Droshos - Emunah at the Wall

Boruch Hashem, we are privileged to be in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh (The Holy City) close to and actually within view of the Makom HaMikdosh (The Temple Mount).[1]

The Makom HaMikdosh is the source of everything as the Gemara says, in the Talmud Yuma, where it expounds on the posuk, מציון מכלל-יופי “From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God appeared”.[2] From Tzion, the world was established! It is the foundation upon which the world was created! When the Borei HaOlam created the world, where was the place that it all began? It was in Yerushalayim, Ir Hakodesh.

Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh is the source of all existence. And within Yerushalayim itself, where was the starting place from which the world began? The Bais Hamikdosh! And within the Bais Hamikdosh the world began from the Kodesh HaKodoshim.

When describing the creation of Adam, the first human being, the posuk says, “And the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul.”[3] From which dust? From the dust of which place did He create Adam HaRishon, the man who included all of mankind within himself? The Gemara says in the Talmud Sanhedrin, “The body of Adam HaRishon was from Bavel, the remainder of his limbs, from the entire world...”  Where did his head originate from? From Eretz Yisrael! And from where within Eretz Yisrael itself was Adam HaRishon created? Chazal say, from the place of the Mizbeach (Alter)[4] in the Bais Hamikdosh. From the place of his atonement, was the root of his creation.

In that case, from where were our bodies created? The head of Adam HaRishon included within it all the heads of all the human beings that would ever exist in the world. It was not just the head of Adam HaRishon, it was the head that included within it all the heads of all the people who will ever exist. From where were our heads created? Here, from the Makom Hamikdosh, the place from which the head of Adam HaRishon originated. Therefore, where is the source of every one of us, where did all our heads originate from? Here, at the place of the Bais Hamikdosh. This is the head from which all of humanity originated.

A person naturally yearns constantly for the point of the beginning. A clear and simple example of this is that every child constantly longs, after they are grown, to the times of their youth, to the place where they grew up. That is the nature with which man was created.

Therefore, each and every one of us, in the depths of his soul, but in a visceral way, toward what place does he yearn? To the place of the Bais Hamikdosh, that is right here.

Is there a Jewish man or woman who does not long to reach the Makom HaMikdosh, the Kosel HaMaaravi? Such a person does not exist! Anyone who has a Jewish soul yearns for this place. But we see before our eyes, that not only do the Jewish people come here, all the seventy nations converge on this place! From all the seventy nations they come to the Makom HaMikdosh. Why? Because the head of Adam HaRishon was created from here. The head that includes within it, not only the foundation of the Jewish people, but also the source for all the nations of the world. Therefore, all of them come here. Every Jewish man, every Jewish woman, and in addition to that, all the nations of the world, yearn and long for this place.

In addition, it says regarding the creation of Adam, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”[5]  HaKodosh Boruch Hu created Adam from the place of the Bais Hamikdosh, but He then took him and placed him in Gan Eden. Afterwards, Adam HaRishon sinned and ate from the Eitz Hadaas (Tree of Knowledge). It says in the words of the posuk, “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.”[6] HaKodosh Boruch Hu sent him away, He banished him from Gan Eden to go and work the land from which he was taken. Where did He send him away to? Chazal say, to the source of his creation, to the Makom Hamikdosh. That is the place to which he was returned when he was banished from Gan Eden.

Let us clarify this matter. Deep within a person’s soul’s, one yearns and longs for the place from which one was created, the Makom Hamikdosh. Yet, there are deeper longings within the soul. These longings are for Gan Eden, for the place where HaKodosh Boruch Hu placed Adam. There are yearnings within yearnings in the depths of the soul. The first longing is for the Makom Hamikdosh. What is the deeper yearning for? To return to Gan Eden, to the place where HaKodosh Boruch Hu placed Adam. Beyond these heartfelt longings, there is a yearning that is even deeper within the soul of a person. “And Hashem created Adam dust from the earth”, that is one part of the creation. But their was second part of the creation, “And He blew into his nostrils a living soul, a part of the Almighty on High.”[7] This describes how HaKodosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, blew into Adam a soul, a part of the Almighty on High. And there in the deepest place of all, lies the depth of the inner soul’s longing, a yearning for the place of its source, the Borei Yisborach Shemo. Such is the yearning of a person for his Creator, a pure and sincere longing of the soul.

To summarize, with the help of Hashem, there are three levels of the soul’s yearning. The first type of longing relates to the body of a person, his head, which yearns for the Makom HaMikdosh. The second, deeper type of longing, is towards the place in which HaKodosh Boruch Hu placed Adam, a longing for Gan Eden. An even deeper yearning is to the innermost source of a person’s soul. “And He blew into his nostrils a living soul, a part of the Almighty on High”. There lies the deepest type of yearning within the soul; a yearning towards Hashem Yisborach. These are the three levels representing three types of inner longings.

Until now, we concluded, beSiyata DiShmaya, in describing how the inner form of a Jew looks. This inner form does not necessarily come to fruition in real life. Do most people demonstrate a deep longing for the Borei Yisborach Shemo? Frequently, they do, and frequently, they do. Do most people long and yearn for Gan Eden? They hardly know what Gan Eden is! For most people, who are aware of the Makom HaMikdosh, the longing for this place is more common, more noticeable.

We understand therefore, beSiyata DiShmaya, what the inner makeup of a Jew is, and we understand in a general way how it actually looks in real life. Now we can understand in what direction a person should grow. To begin with, he should yearn for the Makom HaMikdosh, not only should he yearn for it, but he should actually come to it. He should pray for the building of the Bais Hamikdosh, as we pray every day. But more than that, he should show a longing for the place of Gan Eden, and even more so, to yearn for closeness to Hashem Yisborach Shemo. Now, let us try to understand, how to do this, beSiyata DiShmaya.

As we mentioned earlier, a person is created from a physical body, dust from the earth. And he is merged with a soul, that is ‘A part of the Almighty above’… these are the two parts a person is made of. What is the median between the physical body and the spiritual soul? The head of a person it is the median. It is the highest part of the physical body and it is the closest to the highest place, that is the soul. This is the person’s head.

Therefore, the head of a person is the highest part of his physical being, and it is the point that connects him to the spiritual world. This is the head that was created from the place of the Bais Hamikdosh, as mentioned at the beginning. The more we will live with this head, the more we will be living a life of yearning, and we will explain how in the following paragraphs, beSiyata DiShmaya.

Chazal say that, “The air of Eretz Yisroel makes one wise”. This means that Eretz Yisroel is a place of spirituality, a place of wisdom. The fact that the head of a person was created from Eretz Yisroel, leads a person to live a life of spirituality, a life of wisdom, and to distance himself from a life of physicality. This is the beginning of the first level, to reveal the longing for the place of one’s head, the place of the Bais Hamikdosh. The more that a person distances himself from the physical, and desires more a world of wisdom, a world of introspection, a world of depth, the greater his longing for the place of the Bais Hamikdosh will grow. And the more a person lives a life of physicality, the smaller his longing for the Bais Hamikdosh will be, chas ve’shalom.

When we think about this more we will understand that there are two types of longing for spirituality. There is a longing for spirituality that is clothed in physicality. And there is a longing for spirituality that is more abstract. A clear example of a type of longing for ruchniyus that is clothed in gashmiyus is eating matzoh or sitting in the sukkah. Is that ruchniyus or gashmiyus? A mitzva is spiritual but it is concealed in gashmiyus. We eat matzoh. We sit in the sukkah.

On the other hand, there is a mitzva, for example, whose entire foundation is spiritual. For example, lighting candles on erev Shabbos. Chazal instituted a law that a woman must light these candles. This is a purely spiritual light. These are clear examples of ruchniyus that is clothed in gashmiyus.

If a person lives a completely physical life, he does not yearn for spirituality at all. When he begins to grow a little bit, he yearns for ruchniyus, but only the kind of ruchniyus that is of a physical nature, such as the mitzvah of eating matzoh. When he grows a little bit more, he begins to yearn for abstract spirituality. These are the levels a person must climb.

Let us begin with the two types of longing that we mentioned earlier. The longing for the Makom HaMikdosh has a spiritual source, but it is concealed within the physical, “dust from the earth”. The longing for Gan Eden is a longing for a spiritual matter, that is abstract. These are the two levels we were referring to earlier.

It is therefore clear why there are more people that long for the Makom HaMikdosh, compared to those who long for Gan Eden. Why? The Makom HaMikdosh has a spiritual source, but one that is concealed within the physical, which is closer to the level of many people. The source of Gan Eden is a spiritual source that is not concealed within the physical. Obviously, we are here in the physical world, where spirituality is concealed within the physical. Therefore, most people yearn more for the Makom HaMikdosh, than they yearn for the place of Gan Eden.

The Yemei HaMoshiach (days of Moschiach), Techiyas Hameisim (resurrection of the dead) and Olom Habo (the World to Come), belong to a world that is completely spiritual. What does it mean when Chazal asked “Who is a person of the World to Come”? A person who yearns for a spiritual world that is not necessarily clothed in gashmiyus. He is called a Ben Olom Habo in This World! This is the depth towards which the soul yearns, towards which the soul thirsts….

Practically speaking, what is the avodah of every single Jew? To minimize the soul’s connection, in a practical way and spiritual way, to the physical world. And if one should try to detach the soul alone in only a spiritual way but not also in a practical way, then he will not succeed. Everyone should attempt to detach gradually, each person according to his level, from the physical world in which he exists, to try to grow more and more spiritual. It is up to each and every one of us, from the place where he is, to take at least one small step disconnecting from gashmiyus in order to grow, slowly but surely, to greater spiritual heights. This will allow the inner longing to grow accordingly.

Our job in this world is to detach from the physical gradually, with baby steps. But that is just the practical part. The inner part, is the deep awakening of the soul, with its inner yearnings for a more and more spiritual world. Beginning with spirituality that is concealed within the physical, the place of the Bais HaMikdosh, but extending beyond that, to spirituality that is abstract, that is not physical or practical in nature. When a person grows in this way, one level after another, slowly but surely, he will reach a place, where he yearns to return to the place where Adam HaRishon was placed, to Gan Eden.

Everyone should take some time out for himself at regular intervals. He should make it a time for silence, a time for introspection, a time to dig deep within himself to discover… Did his connection to the physical world grow stronger or has it become weaker? Have the deepest longings of his soul for the spiritual world grown stronger, or have they not?

If he discovers that his connection to gashmiyus is slowly becoming weaker, and the inner spiritual longing of his soul for the spiritual world is growing stronger, this is the right direction a Jew must take. And if the opposite is true, a person must do teshuva about the trajectory of his life, not only about a specific sin he may have committed.

The fact that we are here, near and within view of the Makom HaMikdosh,[8] the place of the Kodesh HaKodoshim, must awaken the inner spark, pure and clean, that yearns and desires a world of spirituality. This cannot be an awakening that weakens over time, but an awakening that leads to a true, internal way of life. This is the obligation and the zechus of every Jew. Yet, what we have spoken about until now, does not yet encapsulate the purpose of life. These are only some levels among the levels of life, steps that lead a person to grow. What is the ultimate purpose of life?

The purpose of life can be explained with the following parable. A small baby, who lives together with his mother spends most of his time with his mother. What does most of his life revolve around? His mother. He plays a little and returns to his mother. He eats a little and returns to his mother. Everything revolves around his mother. This is the way of life of a small person, an infant. And this is the form of our true inner life, in relation the Borei Olam. “Like a nursing infant upon his mother”.

A person grows up, matures, and then the posuk says of him, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife and they shall be one flesh”.[9] He slowly distances himself from his parents, and he builds an independent life for himself. Occasionally, he comes to visit. Occasionally, he calls up his parents up by phone. Once in a while, he gets together at a family gathering. But essentially, he builds for a private life for himself. This is the way most people live in relation to the Borei Olam.

To clarify, there are two ways of living. There is a way of living that is like a baby who lives at home together with his mother. His whole life revolves around his mother. And there is the way of life of an adult, who lives a life of independence, where he has a connection to his parents in specific ways, both practically and emotionally, but in essence, it is a much smaller, weaker connection. Just as in the parable about matzoh and lighting Shabbos candles we described two ways of living in the physical world, so too there are two ways of living in the relationship of a person to the Borei HaOlam. There is the more external relationship, that is familiar to most people. They get up in the morning, they daven, they take care of whatever needs they have, and they go to work. They raise their households. When they need something, they turn to the Borei HaOlam, praying for His help. But when they get up in the morning, they get up alone. When they eat, they eat alone. When they daven, they speak to the Borei HaOlam. When they make a brocho, they thank the Borei HaOlam. But what is the day to day life of a person like this like? It is a life of independence, a life lived for himself. Only when he has a need does he turn to the Borei HaOlam.

There is a different way of life that is possible. This the internal way, it is the way that has within it a true internal life. It is a sweet way of life even though a person has grown in age. Though he may be thirty, seventy, or eighty years old, yet in relation to the Borei Olam he always remains an infant. He remains true to place in his soul that causes his entire life to revolve around Whom? The Borei Olam. This is the true life. This is the type of life where a person gets up in the morning and says “I offer thanks to You, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.”[10] He lives, from the moment he gets up, from the moment he awakens, in the presence of the Borei Olam. “I am thankful before You”, he says. He lives in His presence, Yisborach Shemo, he thinks about Him, his conversations are with Him. His requests and entreaties are to Him, and he feels Him in the depths of his soul, each and every day, at each and every moment.

About such a person the posuk says in Parshas Trumah “…have them take for Me an offering; from every person whose heart inspires him to generosity, you shall take My offering”.[11] Chazal explained, “It does not say ”within him”. Not only in the Mishkan, and not only in the Bais HaMikdosh, are we to be found near Him, but ‘be’Sochom’(within them), within each and every person, within the hearts of Yisroel.” Just as the Bais HaMikdosh is a place where the Shechina dwells, to reveal the existence of the Borei Yisborach Shemo in the Bais Hamikdosh, so too a person who lives in the inner world, our Rabbis teach us, is like a Bais Hamikdosh. The Shechina dwells within him. He feels the presence of Hashem in a clear and revealed way at every moment.

This is a life of penimius, a life of truth. This is the third type of yearning that we spoke about at the beginning. This type of yearning exists when a person does not only long for ruchniyus that is clothed in gashmiyus, like sukkah and matzoh. He does not only yearn for abstract spirituality as in the example of the candle which refers to Gan Eden. He aches with the simplest longing, pure and clean, like the yearning of an infant, “like a nursing infant towards its mother”, the longing that is at the depth of the Jewish soul which pines for Him, Yisborach Shemo, “As a hart cries longingly for rivulets of water, so does my soul cry longingly to You, O God.”[12]

May Hashem bless us, that we may be zocheh, together with all of Klal Yisroel, each and every one from his own level, to peel away the connection to the physical and to reveal the longing for ruchniyus that is clothed in gashmiyus. Then, each of us must peel away even more of the physical, revealing a yearning for ruchniyus that is abstract. We must remove the bad middos, the incorrect ideas in our minds….and then to dig deep to the innermost part of the soul that longs for a true yearning towards Him, Yisborach Shemo. A person created for one purpose: to take pleasure in Hashem and to enjoy the radiance of His Shechina.