Miller's Maggid Musings Boruch Hamokom: A Night to be United

בס''ד

 

Of all the iconic moments of the Seder, the four sons must be one of the most well-known, depicting the four categories of children and the different manner in which we must answer each one according to their own specific personalities and individual requirements.  Interestingly the introduction to this section begins with the phrase “Boruch Hamokom”, “Blessed is Hashem” using the specific name of Hashem “Hamokom”, literally translated as “The Place”.  Regular readers of Miller’s Musings will be well familiar by now with the concept that each name of Hashem is used with great precision, dependent upon the context of its usage and will surely ask what the motive is for this particular name in this instance?

One of the characteristics that can be said about Hashem based on our tradition, is that He is omnipresent, being infinite and therefore ever present in each and every of the tiniest fragments of existence.  The word Mokom means place, and therefore the name Hamokom in fact refers to the fact Hashem is in every place and every place is Hashem.  Using this to answer our question, perhaps we can suggest that when we are about to begin to explore the nature of diversity within our children, and therefore consequently ourselves, we must first realise that no matter who they are or what ideals and values they ascribe to, they too contain within them G-d and have the ability to connect with the infinite, as much as anyone else.  This is absolutely pivotal to appreciate when proceeding to try to understand, and then cater to, each one individually.

As we look around our Seder table this year, it is more than likely that there will be people of disparate ages, characters, backgrounds, intellectual and emotional needs, life experiences and levels of religiosity.  The fact that they all come to celebrate together is part of the beauty of the Seder and an element of what can make it such an uplifting and fulfilling experience, something we should never lose sight of.  Ultimately no matter who we are, the truth that unites us is the godliness that we all hold within us, elevating us above the mundane and granting us the capacity to cleave to the Source of all creation, should we choose to do so.  There is no one who possesses this gift more than anyone else, we are all blessed with its reality.  This Seder night let us appreciate the uniqueness of every individual and remember the Divine that is inside us all. 

May Pesach inspire all creation to its true fulfilment.

 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

Miller's Musings Parshas Metzora: Whiter Than White

 

בס''ד

 

Colours have connotations that can be difficult to discard from our consciousness.  Red is most commonly associated with blood, black with concepts of impurity and white with notions of unblemished purity.  The Torah is replete with examples of the implications that white conveys, for example the garb of the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.  Yet the colour of tzara’as, this spiritually produced skin disorder, that is most definitively a sign of negativity and leads to impurity, is white!  Why would this colour be chosen to signify such a grave status of spiritual decline?

Let us consider carefully the frame of mind of a person who speaks ill of one’s fellow man, the cause of tzara’as, a divine manifestation of one’s shortcomings.  To speak Loshon Horah (evil talk) about another human being displays a level of self-righteousness and disdain towards another that comes with the feeling that to some extent one is above that other person.  This is turn can only be due to a perception of being faultless oneself or more likely believing oneself as being beyond reproach in the eyes of all around us.  For if one clearly recognised one’s own failings as exposed to all, how could one so brazenly point out the inadequacies of another?  Perhaps the whiteness of this affliction is to point out that no matter what impression we may try to portray to others, we must be cognizant of this whiteness being only ‘skin-deep’ and belying the true deficiencies we harbour within, made emphatically clear by the tzara’as.

One of the most widespread ills of this generation is the propensity to act one way in public as a façade to one’s true conduct behind closed doors.  This is living a life of falsehood which comes with its own clear dangers, both for ourselves and for our families, who will always feel and be effected by this deception.  There is no question that we all want others to respect us and may try to conceal our own flaws.  This is natural but to some degree will always be an interposition to our life’s purpose if we do not we recognise it for what it is, a mask that we wear that is not truly us, and try to ensure the pretence becomes the reality.  Perhaps the greatest danger lies in believing in the act that we present to the world, and falling for the deceit ourselves.  Self-knowledge is pivotal to our ability to actualise our potential.  If we accept our own false image, we can never rid ourselves of the flaws that stunt our growth and never become the person we would in essence clearly like to be.  

May the self-reflection of Shabbos reveal to us our true selves.

 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

Miller's Musings Parshas Tazria: Filling the Void

בס''ד

 

The birth of a child is a miraculous event full of joy and wonder.  Can there be a moment of such extreme elation as that compared to when a new soul enters the world and the journey of life begins anew?  The incredible nature of this event therefore begs the question as to why it is that a lady who has been through childbirth, the very source of this tremendous event, becomes impure as a consequence?  How can the creation of such holiness result in defilement of this kind in the progenitor of this precious gift?

The key to understanding this challenging subject is by re-examining the term impurity, not as some people perceive it, as something dirty and to be reviled, but as a natural spiritual consequence of certain circumstances.  In truth the creation of this status in a person is not because there is anything negative about that person, but simply due to the void that has been created when something of such sanctity has departed.  In the case of death, which also brings with it spiritual impurity to the deceased’s body, it is the soul’s departure from its earthly confines whereas here ,with regard to a woman after childbirth, it is the sudden absence of the life that was contained within her. 

The vicissitudes and fluctuations of life, with its troughs and peaks, occur both on a physical and spiritual level.  There are moments that we are palpably in touch with our religious aspirations and focus on achieving them, but there are times that we lose track of our true purpose and hence begin to weaken in our resolve to perform the acts that have brought us closer to it.  This is natural and expected but does not mean it is something we should resign ourselves to.  Be it a shiur that we have stopped attending, an act of service to Hashem that we have lately given less thought to, or an area of self-improvement that we have of late disregarded, the damage is not just in not performing these deeds, but in the spiritual vacuum that is created by no longer involving oneself in such holy endeavours.  Do not just succumb to life’s valleys, but rather take note of the decline one has taken and the gaps in one’s life and start to ascend once again, safe in the knowledge that we have already scaled its peaks before and can do so again.

May the purity of Shabbos fill our spiritual voids this week.

 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

Miller's Musings Parshas Shemini: Think Before You Think Before You Act

 

בס''ד

 

Death is generally considered avoidable wherever possible and certainly a death that involves being engulfed by heavenly flames, the way in which Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, met their end.   Yet we know that every punishment that is incurred upon a person by Hashem is no arbitrary penalty, but a precisely chosen one that perfectly mirrors the crime that induced such a response, in every detail.  There is in fact a disagreement discussed about one such aspect, whether the fire consumed their bodies and insides or only their insides.  It therefore requires us to understand what this particular element represented and what the point of dispute signifies.

This one facet of their fate, as explained by Rabbi Shaul Katzenellenbogen zt'l, can be understand as a parallel to another point of contention, with regard to the manner in which the two sons erred.  According to one opinion, as they walked behind Moshe and Aharon they contemplated, without actually uttering a word, as to when those two great leaders would die so that they could take over their positions.  The second opinion is that they actually verbalised this thought aloud.  According to the first opinion, that the sin was an inner one, they were punished only internally, with the fire restricted to their internal organs.  Correspondingly the second opinion, that they gave voice to this inappropriate comment, resulted in their outer body also being incinerated.

When it comes to our actions, we all realise that there can be much room for improvement and understand that negative deeds can have destructive consequences.  With regard to our thoughts, however, there can be a tendency to belittle the damage we cause through negative perceptions, judgements and beliefs and somewhat demean the importance of work in this area.  This is a grave mistake, firstly because, as we have seen, there will also be a reckoning for this, and secondly because so much of what we do is actually determined by what we think.  We have to realise that we can control how we perceive our reality and the way in which we understand our situation, and that the wrong notions can have devastating effects on what we do.   To shape our mind according to the ideals of the Torah is both possible and essential and will shape our every action and every moment. 

May Shabbos bring clarity to our thoughts this week.

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם