Rosh Chodesh Mazal - 006 Sivan | Closer Than Twins

“My Twin”

The month of Sivan contains the mazal of te’umim (twins). What is the connection between the mazal of te’umim\twins, and the receiving of the Torah which took place in this month, Sivan?

The root of this matter lies in the verse, פתחי לי אחותי, יונתי, רעייתי, תמתי, “Open [your heart for Me], my sister, my dove, my love, my perfection.”[1]The word תמתי, “My perfection”, is expounded upon by Chazal to mean תאומתי, “My twin” – thus, HaKadosh Baruch Hu and the Jewish people are called “te’umim”, twins, so to speak; Chazal explain that Hashem says of the Jewish people, “I am not greater than you, and you are not greater than Me”, as it were. In other words, Hashem considers us His “twin”, as if we share equal status with Him, so to speak.

The above words of Chazal require understanding. What does it mean that Hashem calls us His ‘twin’?

The Jewish People Are Above The Level of “Twins”

The Gemara says, “The Torah is not in Heaven.” In Heaven, only HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides, but on this world, it is the Sages of the Jewish people who decide, in the rulings given in Beis Din. Every Jew contains the power to decide what the will of Hashem is in the Torah. Above in Heaven, Hashem’s will can only be decided by Hashem Himself. Below, on this earth, the will of Hashem is given over to the Sages to decide.

Chazal state that “There is no mazal for the Jewish people.[2] Therefore, if the month of Sivan contains the mazal of te’umim\twins, that would mean that the Jewish people are above the mazal of te’umim and whatever it will imply. This really means that even though the mazal of te’umim is in Sivan, te’umim does not represent the depth of receiving the Torah. Chazal also teach us that “the Jewish people are above time” (Yisrael l’maalah min hazman)”, which further proves that the Jewish people are above mazal, so the Jewish people are above the implications of the mazal te’umim.

Oneness

What will this imply? What does it mean that the Jewish people are above the mazal of te’umim?

It is referring to the level of “HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Torah, and Yisrael are one (chad)”. The Jewish people are not merely “twins” with Hashem, they are “one” with Hashem!

Concerning our “twin” relationship with Hashem, Hashem says to the Jewish people, “I am not greater than you, and you are not greater than me”, but this implies that we are ‘separate’ from Hashem. Thus, the “twin” aspect in our bond with Hashem is actually a lower aspect of our bond with Hashem.

The higher aspect of our bond with Hashem is that we are “one” with Him - where there is no separation at all.

Striving To Reach The Da’as (Thinking) of Hashem

The Gemara says that “Moshe added on a day [to Shavuos] from his own daas (thinking), and the daas of Hashem agreed with him”. Moshe reached a level in which his own daas paralleled the daas of Hashem. What is the intended meaning of this teaching? Ever since the receiving of the Torah, the Sages are given power to make decisions in Torah and render rulings. So what was unique when Moshe added on day and Hashem agreed with him? What was different about Moshe’s decision than any other decision that the Sages make?

The uniqueness of Moshe’s ruling was that it took place before the Torah was actually received. That shows us something deeper. It shows us that man was given the ability in which his own daas can reflect the daas of HaKadosh Baruch Hu!

Whenever there is a machlokes (disagreement) as to what the halachah is, there is a debate as to what the halachah is, but when a person is trying to understand the daas of HaKadosh Baruch Hu in the case, when he directs his own daas towards the daas of Hashem, there is no possibility for machlokes. When does a person say an opinion in halachah that is not what Hashem says? It is only when he hasn’t yet reached the daas of Hashem, so to speak. When a person understands what the daas of Hashem is, he understands what Hashem’s will is, and then there is no room for machlokes about the issue at hand.

The entire concept of machlokes (disagreement) is only possible when people on this lower world aren’t reaching the daas of Hashem. However, since the “Torah is not in Heaven”, even if a person would know for sure what Hashem’s opinion is about the issue at hand, the rule is that we must follow the words of the Sages about this matter. Yet, with the more a person nullifies his own daas to the daas of his Creator, the more he can reach the point in which there is no machlokes – the point of which it is said, “Hashem, Torah, and Yisrael are one.”

When a person has a relationship of “oneness” with Hashem, he is aware that just as Hashem learns Torah in Heaven (as the Sages state), so does he learn Torah on this world. It is when a person realizes that he has no daas of his own.

The daas of people is subject to machlokes. But when a person wants his own daas to be like the daas of Hashem, he is directing his own mind to think like Hashem, as opposed to his own thinking. Such a person will merit a true receiving of the Torah.

Thus, when Moshe decided to add on a day, he was using his daas, but he was not using his ‘own’ daas. Rather, he directed his daas to think like the daas of Hashem.

This is the meaning of the concept of “Torah of truth” and “The seal of Hashem is truth.” When a person truly merits Torah, he merits the seal of Hashem upon his Torah learning, and the seal of Hashem is always the truth. When a person does not reach this, of this it is said, “A judge does not see except what his eyes see.”[3]

The rule is that “When an individual and the majority have a dispute, the halachah is like the majority” (yachid v’rabim, halachah k’rabim) - this does not necessarily mean that the truth is like the opinion of the majority, and that the individual did not merit the truth.

Shavuos & Receiving The Torah – The Power To Go Beyond The Level of ‘Twins’

Te’umim (twins) represent a level in which a person’s understanding is still not yet aligned with Hashem. When a person is only at the level of te’umim in his relationship with Hashem, his understanding can be the opposite of Hashem’s will.

The month of Sivan contains the mazal of te’umim, but we know that the Jewish people are above mazal, so there is a point we can reach that is above the level of te’umim. The entire concept of machlokes in Torah is only possible today because the original pair of Luchos were broken, due to the sin with the golden calf. Had the people never sinned with the golden calf, they would have connected completely to Hashem and they would have reached a kind of Torah in which machlokes isn’t possible, for everyone’s daas would parallel the daas of Hashem.

But there is a spiritual light contained in the festival of Shavuos, which returns every year at this time, which is a power that enables a person to accept the Torah contained in the first set of Luchos, a Torah without sin. The power available during this time enables a person to truly reach this dimension.

Shavuos gives us the opportunity to reach the power where our daas can parallel the daas of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, where our own thinking is aligned with His will. When we stood at Har Sinai, we declared, “It is our will to see our King.” The deeper implication of this is that we gave up our own thinking, and we had no daas of our own; whatever Hashem said became our own daas. It was was the level of “Hashem, Torah, and Yisrael are one”.

Our Personal Avodah In Preparing For Shavuos & Receiving The Torah

If someone is really searching for truth, he can merit the truth of Torah, from the spiritual power that is contained in Shavuos.

If someone doesn’t search for truth, though, he descends from the level of “There is no mazal for the Jewish people” and instead he is subject to mazal. He will remain at the level of mazal of te’umim of the month of Sivan, which is the incomplete level of our bond with Hashem, for being “twins” with Hashem is not nearly as close to Hashem as being “one” with Him.

Our avodah, then, is to leave the level of te’umim - to go beyond it. It is not enough for us to have a relationship of “twins” with Hashem, because twins imply separated beings from each other. We need to have a higher relationship with Hashem, a relationship of being “one” with Him, in which we are never apart from Him.

We must therefore strive to truly receive the Torah, the “seal of Hashem”, which is truth. May the Creator merit us to learn the Torah, and that we should align our own daas with Hashem, by striving to reach the truth, when we learn Torah; that we strive to reach the “Torah of truth.”