Description: Review 05
Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh
Review of Volume I
In order to begin this process of teaching ourselves Emunah, let’s turn to the most celebrated time of year when we work on our Emunah – the night of Pesach, Seder Night. The pasuk commands us, ‘vi’hayah ki yishalchah binechah,’ when your son will ask you, you should answer. Seforim explain that although this refers to a literal father and son, within ourselves we have an internal father and son. Our minds play the role of father, who teaches the heart, the son. The language used is ‘ha’leiv maivin,’ the word ‘binah,’ has its roots in the word ‘ben’, a son. How does the mind teach the heart? Either through thinking and contemplating concepts until they become deeply rooted in their heart, or through speaking about the concepts and discussing them aloud, cause them to become entrenched in the heart.
This Avodah isn’t limited to the night of Pesach of course, we have to work on our Emunah the whole year. On the night of Pesach, we clarify famously, ‘afilu kulanu chachamim, kulano nevonim, kulano yodi’im es haTorah, mitzvah alainu le’sapair bi’Yetzias Mitzrayim.’ Even though we know everything, we understand everything, we have already learned the Torah, nevertheless it is still incumbent upon us to discuss Yetzias Mitzrayim. Why? Because the wisdom and understanding that reside in our minds – the father, won’t make it to our hearts. That requires a certain measure of simplicity – of making all that we understand into facts that our hearts learn to accept and live by. It’s a mitzvah ‘le’sapair,’ which seforim say also hints at the meaning of ‘safir’ which means to shine light, into our hearts and illuminate it with the simple truths of Emunah.
But the night of Pesach also teaches us a very important approach to this learning process. We know that sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim has to be done in a question answer format. Chazal taught us an amazing learning tool with this. If we want to really internalize something, make it clear as day to ourselves – we need to employ this specific method of clarification – through question and answer.
We ask the question, although we already know the answer! So why ask the question? But that’s the way our hearts work – it responds to questions. When we ask a question, it gives the part of us that resists Emunah, the part that is a little stubborn and doesn’t want to conform – it gives it a platform. Our question has been heard! It has been verbalized! It gives it validity and takes what sometimes is a cloudy thought lurking in the back of our minds, and brings it out into the open. We then answer the question, clearly and confidently, and this shines light on the topic, and puts the question to rest. This is an extremely valuable tactic that Chazal have taught us, and we make use of it the night of Pesach – but we can use it all year long!
Keeping this in mind, let’s begin learning Sefer Beraishis, the way the Chafetz Chaim taught us to do. ‘Beraishis barah Elokim es ha’shamayim v’es ha’aretz.’ Beraishis, means in the beginning of Creation. ‘Barah’ – there was Creation by a Creator. This word alone – simply ‘barah’ is there to discount any and all theories which posit that the world formed itself. It didn’t happen alone, it didn’t evolve, it didn’t explode into existence. It was created. There was intelligent design.
The pasuk continues. Who created? Elokim. Now this is a being we can address directly, Hashem hears us and we can communicate with Him. “You Hashem created the world! The Torah testifies to that fact! You created every single being and living thing.” Every Jew believes this, but we have to keep on reviewing and honing this simple knowledge to ourselves. Only Hashem created – no one else. If we don’t work on this, it without question is weak!
We say ‘es ha’shamayim.’ The heavens. At this moment we need to point up to the heavens – up to the sky, observe them, examine them and think to ourselves, “Who created those?” Let’s ask ourselves that question aloud – “Who created the heavens?” We can address Hashem as well. We then review the answer many times – “You Hashem created them – the sky, the moon, the stars, the sun, all the planets, everything that’s up there in shamayim!” We look down at the earth – point to it with our finger and say, “Who created the earth, the planet, the core, crust and surface? You Hashem, You were the one who created all this!” We can point to Hashem so to speak, just as Klal Yisrael pointed at Hashem when they said, ‘zeh Keili v’anvaihu.’
We continue through every detail of the parshah this way. ‘Vayehi Ohr,’ take a moment to appreciate light, to experience it, to feel it. Then ask ourselves – “Who created light?” Hashem! These questions and answers, simple as they may seem, make a deep impression on our neshamos. If we dedicate a little time to this exercise every day, we will see the effect on our heart. We can examine anything in our vicinity, look closely at what it is, appreciate it, and then talk to Hashem – ask a question! Who created this! And then answer clearly and confidently – Hashem – You did!
This is a process that will and should take time. We discussed last week, the Avodah of making Hashem’s existence a constant awareness, through practice and review, adding more and more times during the day when we ponder that fact, slowly but surely it will become a natural thought process and a way of life. Likewise, this aspect of Emunah is the same. We have to conquer it little by little, step by step. Give it time. Think about it a little today, then eventually add some more time, find more opportunities to strengthen this belief. Eventually, we aim to reach a point, where every object we see, every living creature, and every facet of creation, screams out to us – Hashem created me! Then we will know – we have been successful in internalizing this truth!
The fact that Hashem created everything, is not a historical fact. We say in davening every day, ‘Yotzeir Ohr u’borai choshech.’ Hashem creates light and darkness. We don’t use the past tense, ‘Yatzar ohr, u’varah choshech.’ Rather we use the present tense, Yotzair, meaning Hashem is creating – constantly. Nothing in this world exists for even a moment without the constant infusion of ‘Ratzon Hashem’ to create it and continue its existence. When we focus on any particular thing, ourselves, our children, our home, our community, our food, our health, everything, and acknowledge to ourselves – Hashem created this – we don’t merely speak about its history. We are witnessing creation happening before our eyes. B”H it doesn’t stop for a moment! That would be scary. It continues seamlessly, without pause. But that’s exactly what is taking place – constant creation, infusion of life, of ‘ratzon Hashem.’ This is a basic foundation of our Emunah, which we have to review, review and review, and make it a part of our heart, something we live with.
Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh
Review of Volume I
In order to begin this process of teaching ourselves Emunah, let’s turn to the most celebrated time of year when we work on our Emunah – the night of Pesach, Seder Night. The pasuk commands us, ‘vi’hayah ki yishalchah binechah,’ when your son will ask you, you should answer. Seforim explain that although this refers to a literal father and son, within ourselves we have an internal father and son. Our minds play the role of father, who teaches the heart, the son. The language used is ‘ha’leiv maivin,’ the word ‘binah,’ has its roots in the word ‘ben’, a son. How does the mind teach the heart? Either through thinking and contemplating concepts until they become deeply rooted in their heart, or through speaking about the concepts and discussing them aloud, cause them to become entrenched in the heart.
This Avodah isn’t limited to the night of Pesach of course, we have to work on our Emunah the whole year. On the night of Pesach, we clarify famously, ‘afilu kulanu chachamim, kulano nevonim, kulano yodi’im es haTorah, mitzvah alainu le’sapair bi’Yetzias Mitzrayim.’ Even though we know everything, we understand everything, we have already learned the Torah, nevertheless it is still incumbent upon us to discuss Yetzias Mitzrayim. Why? Because the wisdom and understanding that reside in our minds – the father, won’t make it to our hearts. That requires a certain measure of simplicity – of making all that we understand into facts that our hearts learn to accept and live by. It’s a mitzvah ‘le’sapair,’ which seforim say also hints at the meaning of ‘safir’ which means to shine light, into our hearts and illuminate it with the simple truths of Emunah.
But the night of Pesach also teaches us a very important approach to this learning process. We know that sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim has to be done in a question answer format. Chazal taught us an amazing learning tool with this. If we want to really internalize something, make it clear as day to ourselves – we need to employ this specific method of clarification – through question and answer.
We ask the question, although we already know the answer! So why ask the question? But that’s the way our hearts work – it responds to questions. When we ask a question, it gives the part of us that resists Emunah, the part that is a little stubborn and doesn’t want to conform – it gives it a platform. Our question has been heard! It has been verbalized! It gives it validity and takes what sometimes is a cloudy thought lurking in the back of our minds, and brings it out into the open. We then answer the question, clearly and confidently, and this shines light on the topic, and puts the question to rest. This is an extremely valuable tactic that Chazal have taught us, and we make use of it the night of Pesach – but we can use it all year long!
Keeping this in mind, let’s begin learning Sefer Beraishis, the way the Chafetz Chaim taught us to do. ‘Beraishis barah Elokim es ha’shamayim v’es ha’aretz.’ Beraishis, means in the beginning of Creation. ‘Barah’ – there was Creation by a Creator. This word alone – simply ‘barah’ is there to discount any and all theories which posit that the world formed itself. It didn’t happen alone, it didn’t evolve, it didn’t explode into existence. It was created. There was intelligent design.
The pasuk continues. Who created? Elokim. Now this is a being we can address directly, Hashem hears us and we can communicate with Him. “You Hashem created the world! The Torah testifies to that fact! You created every single being and living thing.” Every Jew believes this, but we have to keep on reviewing and honing this simple knowledge to ourselves. Only Hashem created – no one else. If we don’t work on this, it without question is weak!
We say ‘es ha’shamayim.’ The heavens. At this moment we need to point up to the heavens – up to the sky, observe them, examine them and think to ourselves, “Who created those?” Let’s ask ourselves that question aloud – “Who created the heavens?” We can address Hashem as well. We then review the answer many times – “You Hashem created them – the sky, the moon, the stars, the sun, all the planets, everything that’s up there in shamayim!” We look down at the earth – point to it with our finger and say, “Who created the earth, the planet, the core, crust and surface? You Hashem, You were the one who created all this!” We can point to Hashem so to speak, just as Klal Yisrael pointed at Hashem when they said, ‘zeh Keili v’anvaihu.’
We continue through every detail of the parshah this way. ‘Vayehi Ohr,’ take a moment to appreciate light, to experience it, to feel it. Then ask ourselves – “Who created light?” Hashem! These questions and answers, simple as they may seem, make a deep impression on our neshamos. If we dedicate a little time to this exercise every day, we will see the effect on our heart. We can examine anything in our vicinity, look closely at what it is, appreciate it, and then talk to Hashem – ask a question! Who created this! And then answer clearly and confidently – Hashem – You did!
This is a process that will and should take time. We discussed last week, the Avodah of making Hashem’s existence a constant awareness, through practice and review, adding more and more times during the day when we ponder that fact, slowly but surely it will become a natural thought process and a way of life. Likewise, this aspect of Emunah is the same. We have to conquer it little by little, step by step. Give it time. Think about it a little today, then eventually add some more time, find more opportunities to strengthen this belief. Eventually, we aim to reach a point, where every object we see, every living creature, and every facet of creation, screams out to us – Hashem created me! Then we will know – we have been successful in internalizing this truth!
The fact that Hashem created everything, is not a historical fact. We say in davening every day, ‘Yotzeir Ohr u’borai choshech.’ Hashem creates light and darkness. We don’t use the past tense, ‘Yatzar ohr, u’varah choshech.’ Rather we use the present tense, Yotzair, meaning Hashem is creating – constantly. Nothing in this world exists for even a moment without the constant infusion of ‘Ratzon Hashem’ to create it and continue its existence. When we focus on any particular thing, ourselves, our children, our home, our community, our food, our health, everything, and acknowledge to ourselves – Hashem created this – we don’t merely speak about its history. We are witnessing creation happening before our eyes. B”H it doesn’t stop for a moment! That would be scary. It continues seamlessly, without pause. But that’s exactly what is taking place – constant creation, infusion of life, of ‘ratzon Hashem.’ This is a basic foundation of our Emunah, which we have to review, review and review, and make it a part of our heart, something we live with.