Miller's Musings Parshas Nitzovim: The Unaswerable Questions

בס''ד

Although the Parsha begins pleasantly enough, including a quick foray into establishing the nature of Hashem’s covenant with us, it then ‘descends’ quickly into the theme of the previous Parsha, that of the curses that will be incurred by the Jewish people should they choose to forsake the way of Hashem.  Having completed the full gamut of potential calamities that could befall the wayward Jewish people, the Torah then proclaims “The hidden things are for Hashem our G-d, but the revealed things are for us…to carry out all the words of the Torah”.  This is surely rather puzzling, being a rather enigmatic and incongruous passage as a continuation and climax to the theme of retribution.

For every misfortune that we encounter, be it trivial or life-defining, there is a right response and a wrong one.  The correct one sees the ordeal as an opportunity for growth, whereas the incorrect one allows it to draw us away from our true purpose.  But the truth is that even if we make the right choice, we can still err by trying to discern Hashem’s precise motive behind the suffering when this is in fact inaccessible to us.  This is perhaps what Hashem is warning us of here.  When trying to endure the difficulty we must realise that “the hidden things”, the exact reasons for the hardship, “are for Hashem” exclusively.  We can never truly and definitively identify the cause.  This, however, does not mean that we remain passive to these experiences, for “the revealed things” are for us. This perhaps indicates that our task is to utilise what we can see clearly, the fact that Hashem is certainly trying to alert us to something and the areas that we know we can improve on, and use them to our advantage in refining ourselves and to further “carry out the words of the Torah”.

When we look back over the past year and any troubles or tragedies we have faced, it can be damaging and counter-productive to solely focus on what it was that we did wrong and what may have been its source.  Although it is incumbent upon us to examine our deeds for a possible cause in order to correct it, we can never truly know what it was, so would be opening ourselves up to erroneously based conclusions and decisions.  What we can do however is face up to the realities that are manifest before us; the fact that Hashem is trying to awaken us to something and the reality of where we have fallen short of who we should be.  There are truths that we can see clearly that should guide us, but there are secrets that Hashem wishes to be concealed from us until such time that we can see all of history unfold into a perfect picture.  Until then we must move ever forward through the dark, with whatever light we can generate on our own, creating pathways of G-dliness until we find our way home.

*May the illumination of Shabbos shatter the darkness once and for all.* 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

Miller's Musings Parshas Ki Tzetzeh: A Fight to the Light

בס''ד

En route to the devastation and carnage that undoubtedly awaits on the battlefield, one can imagine the last thing on one’s mind would be romance.  Nevertheless, one’s attention was perchance diverted towards a “woman of beautiful appearance” amongst the enemy captives, leading to a procedure delineated by the Torah which eventually facilitated the marriage to this prisoner of war.  In what was the antithesis of a honeymoon period, the lady was divested of all adornments and any last vestige of the glamour that so attracted him to her, and was left to wallow in the mire of despair, so far from all she knew and loved.  If he still desired her, despite her aesthetic decline and the state of depression he found her in, then he could marry her.  So what message can we glean from this ostensibly so distant subject matter from the lives we inhabit?

It is well known that the opening phrase of our Parsha “When you go out to war” allegorically also refers to our battle against our evil inclination, the Yetzer Horah.  If this is so perhaps we can suggest that the process undergone here directly parallels the way in which we succumb to our negative desires.  It begins with a feeling of lust towards the alluring potential offered by the particular craving.  The temptation is too much for us and we relinquish ourselves to its captivating embrace.  However in the cold light of day, when we begin to look back upon our conquest, we begin to regret our folly and see the sin for what it truly is, a façade that fooled us into believing in its rewards.  The pleasure we thought we would feel was so fleeting and we are left facing the overwhelming emotion of disappointment, so far from where we know we should be.  Yet often we continue unabated along the same path time after time until we are wedded to the sin, joined together in unholy matrimony, consigned to a life with the wrong we should have rejected the first moment we set our eyes upon it. 

This battleground is one we face every day.  It is for that purpose that we were created.  There are no shortages of temptations and they come before us unrelentingly, determined to make us yield to them.  Yet if we can focus on the knowledge of all those regrets we have felt in the past, perhaps we can start to win some of these conflicts. If we can remind ourselves of the fallacy of all the delights they seemed to offer, perhaps we can begin to be triumphant in battle.   And if we can envision the pain we know we will feel if we submit to those things we know will keep us further from our purpose, then with Hashem’s help, one day, we will win the war against the greatest adversary we will ever face. 

May the purity of Shabbos help us to discern all truth from falsehood. 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

Miller's Musings Parshas Shoftim: Ditch the Deadweight

At first glance building houses or planting trees on top of the Temple Mount doesn’t seem too dreadful.   If there is room on the extant landscape, why not use it for something productive rather than letting it go to waste? Utilising some prime real estate is surely not an act that needs prohibiting.   Nevertheless, according to our commentators, this is exactly what is being forbidden in our Parsha.  One can understand the need to protect the sanctity of the place where the Beis Hamikdosh once stood, but is there anything really so harmful in constructing a house or allowing a tree to grow there?

The holiness of the Beis Hamikdosh is something we find difficult, if not impossible, to truly fathom.  It was a place through which all spiritual energies from Hashem flowed and from which all Hashem’s benevolence to the world emanated.  For a site of such prominence and tremendous sacredness it was not enough to only condemn usage that would by its definition desecrate this holy location, but even those uses that would seemingly have a more neutral quality had also to be kept distant from it in order to uphold its status.  To create anything on this hallowed ground that did not further the pursuit of glorifying Hashem’s Name, would in itself be an act of sacrilege against the site of the resting place of Hashem’s Shechina.  Perhaps this is why even these seemingly non-detrimental actions were not permitted in this place. 

Amongst the many opportunities that we can involve ourselves with throughout our lives, there are those that are clearly of a spiritually destructive nature and there are those that do not necessarily lend themselves toward either a positive or negative quality.  In many cases it may be totally justifiable to partake of these ‘parve’ entities, yet there may be times that require greater sensitivity and a more refined choice of what we allow ourselves to participate in.  Places of holiness, times of increased sanctity and spiritual acts may necessitate us to think more carefully about what we have with us.  Even things that may not by definition be deleterious to our neshomo, may be inappropriate when we are striving for the highest levels of spiritual heights.  Throughout Ellul when we are given the potential to create a new us and undergo a rebirth, becoming whatever we strive to be, perhaps we can think more deeply about what part of our lives further our goals and which add nothing to our pursuit of greatness. 

May our Shabbos be full of only that which makes it sublime. 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

Miller's Musings Parshas Re'eh: The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Mountain

בס''ד

Location, location, location.  Apparently those are the three most crucial elements when looking at a property.  And if location is of great prominence with regard to material matters, it is even more so with relation to spiritual events and where they take place.  Moshe informs the Jewish people this week that when they enter Eretz Yisroel certain curses must be declared on Mount Grizim whilst particular blessings must be proclaimed on Mount Eivol.  We will not try here to understand why specifically a mountain was chosen, but rather question why the same land feature would be used for both.  If a mountain is suitable for blessings, surely a valley or deep chasm should be chosen for curses.

Depending upon the particular perspective we are coming from, there are certain characteristics, situations and experiences that we deem to be positive or negative.  A rich person may view their wealth as a burden due to their many responsibilities and the many physical desires at their disposal, due to their affluence.  Poor people will see their poverty as an insurmountable challenge, facing the daily grind of eking out a living, not allowing for the luxury of spiritual pursuits.  Each one sees the other’s situation as the superior.  Theirs as a curse and the other’s as a blessing.  In truth, of course, the only thing that determines whether it is really good or bad, is the attitude of the one who experiences it and the manner in which they deal with it.  I would like to suggest that this is the message being conveyed by both blessing and curses emanating from the same source.  They are in essence truly one and the same.                                        

If there is one thing we all, without exception, excel at, it’s at finding excuses and justifications for ourselves.  No matter how wrong our actions are, we somehow manage to extricate ourselves from any culpability.  To this end one of the main ploys we utilise is the plea of unfair circumstances.  “If our lives were only like this….If I only had this ability….If I had not been given this challenge, then I would never have fallen in this manner.”  We endlessly look to the ‘easier’ lives of others to help vindicate our own failings, when in truth no matter what hand we would have been dealt, we would still have encountered trials of our character, perhaps of a different format, but of no less difficulty.  If we are to succeed at anything of meaning, our first task must be acceptance of the life we have been selected for and the perfection of our specific place in the grand scheme of all existence.

May our Shabbos be the most perfect our Shabbos could possibly be. 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם