Rabbi's Sermons

Shabat Shalom! 

“And the Lord spoke unto Moses Bamidbar Sinai - in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt”, thus begins the fourth book of the Torah, the book of – “Bamidbar”, or – “Numbers”, that we begin to read this week. Three days ago, during the Sisterhood meeting, we studied – “Yom Yerushalaim – The Day of Jerusalem” – a very significant day, in memory of the unification and liberation of the city of Jerusalem, following the six-day war, in 1968. Tonight we will count the 46^th day of the Omer, and in less than a week, we will celebrate receiving the Torah, during the Shavuot festival.

Rabbi Shlomo Eliashiv, known as the “Haleshem”, one of the most renowned Kabalists of the late nineteenth century, explained, that in the days of the messianic era, the redemption would begin on Passover and would end on Shavuot; that is, the process would last forty-nine days during the count of the Omer. It is no coincidence that the Omer count is divided into two parts: The first 32 days until Lag Baomer, and the second part, of 17 days, until Shavuot. 32 and 17 which are usually represented in Gematria as – "לב - Lev” (32) and “טוב Tov” (17), good heart - as the values of these two Hebrew words. But why is this important? In Pirkei Avot, 2:8 to 9, it is written: “Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai had five disciples and they were these: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah, Rabbi Yose, the priest, Rabbi Shimon ben Nethaneel and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach... He [Rabban Yohanan] said unto them: go forth and observe which is the right way to which a man should cleave? Rabbi Eliezer said, a good eye; Rabbi Joshua said, a good companion; Rabbi Yose said, a good neighbor; Rabbi Shimon said, foresight. Rabbi Elazar said a good heart. He [Rabban Yohanan] said to them: I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arach (a good heart), for in his words your words are included”.

In other words, in a "good heart," everything else is included. But that is theoretical. How can this be implemented? The answer is trivial, but I am sure that if we survey hundreds of people, asking what does it mean – to have a "good heart", we will have dozens of different answers. Let us also consider, that it is also a social and culturally issue dependent to the person whom we ask. Since the beginning of times after the flood, many societies have struggled to find a formula to maintain peace among peoples, often in vain - as a peace-loving "good heart" did not seem to prevail in some of the cultures which have appeared on the face of the earth. It is very rare to find it. This week, once again, the world turns its eyes to Israel and USA relations, to Iran, and even to Mexico which for the first time, elected a new female left communist President, who openly is pro-Palestinian and against Israel. So we may ask again… what happened to the "Lev Tov - good heart"?

Pirkei Avot 5:16 offers a response, to this in a very simple manner and says: “All love that depends on a something, [when] the something ceases, [the] love ceases; and [all love] that does not depend on anything, will never cease”. So it seems that it has been the nature of humanity, to never reach Shalom. And we can then ask… does "a good heart" even exist?

Right before the text of the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 19, it is written: "The same day THEY came into the Wilderness of Sinai. For THEY had departed from Rephidim and had come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched camp in the wilderness; and there Israel (one) camped before the mount", in the beginning, the text mentioned THEY, and at the end ONE people. Rashi explains the strange switch, from “they” – plural, to singular – “Israel”, in this verse, noting that at the end, "they had become one man with one heart". This special unity occurred only before the incredible event of Matan Torah - the delivery of the law, down the slopes of Mount Sinai. A spiritual experience, of an exalted level! And that is the secret of – a "good heart", spiritually and emotionally. In the Talmud Nedarim, 55a, Rab Yosef explains the verse in Numbers 21:18 that mentions the stations the people of Israel traveled in the desert: “And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah, and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth” – and analyzes the names in a beautiful symbolic way: When a person becomes empty as the "wilderness" – BAMIDBAR, he becomes lost from everything, the Torah is given to him in MATANA (which in Hebrew means –  "a gift"), and when he is given a gift, then NAJNI-EL (which in Hebrew reads – "God inherited it"), and when he inherits it, God increases his greatness, so goes up to the BAMOT (which in Hebrew means – "podium or stage").

This is the reason we mention that during the days of the Omer, until we reach forty-nine days, we are climbing our way up to the top of the mountain, in a spiritual manner, to reach a level where we can say to ourselves that we may have – LEV TOV a good heart, or even LEV TAHOR a pure heart. We only have a few more days to reach to the top of that mountain of spirituality, and I invite you to analyze your actions in relation to your peers, your partners, your neighbors or friends, and coworkers, and remember the valuable teachings from Rabbi Elazar ben Araj. There is a beautiful song in Israel, by which, we ask for this LEV TAHOR inspired by King David in the book of Psalm 51:12-13: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and a right spirit renew within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence and Thy holy Spirit do not take from me”.

לֵב טָהוֹר, בְּרָא לִי אֱלֹהִים וְרוּחַ נָכוֹן, חַדֵּשׁ בְּקִרְבִּי אַל תַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי מִלְּפָנֶיךָ וְרוּחַ קָדְשְׁךָ, אַל תִּקַּח מִמֶּנִּי.

Lev Tahor Bra Li Elohim, veruach najón jadesh bekirbi al tashlicheni milfanecha, veruach kodshecha al tikach mimeni.

Shabat Shalom!

Rabbi David Laor

June 7^st, 2024