Dear friends,
Two weddings are happening this week!
The first is Gemma's, which will take place tomorrow, and the second one is Chana Levi's. Some of you will remember her as the tall girl from Holland. Gemma is English, and odds are that a significant percentage of the girls dancing in almost endless circles at the wedding will be American. It doesn't matter at all, at times like these. We are sort of fellow travelers on the same road, where friendships are made because we share the experiences of the same sort of journey.
Ohr HaChaim (not the synagogue that I went to for slichot, but the post-medieval Moroccan Torah commentator, Rav Chaim Ben Atar) points out something I found interesting. Last week's parshah spoke about war and this one speaks about peace. That was the reality that we faced when we arrived as a people to Eretz Yisrael, conquered and divided the land, and finally settled down. The Torah commands us to bring first fruits, and to thank Hashem for having taken us from near destruction at the hands of Laban, slavery in Egypt, to our final destination, Eretz Yisrael. Ohr HaChaim tells us that this corresponds to the journey that your soul made from the beginning of its existence facing opposition and travail until it reaches its final resting place, the spiritual equivalent of Eretz Yisrael. The reward that you and I get for living lives of faith is something that we can't estimate from here. For this reason Eretz Yisrael, which is the parallel to Gan Eden, is called a gift. It is different than other gifts in that we toil for it, and to a large degree design it, but in the end, nothing that we do here would ever be great enough to bring us the continued connection to goodness that the soul receives in Olam HaBa. The "first fruits" that you take with you on your journey are the mitzvot and good that you have done during your stay in this world.
Everything in the world by its nature is a gift. You didn't determine what your challenges would be, nor did you give yourself the tools that you have to move beyond them. The only thing that is really "yours" is the integrity of your choices. The Torah tells us that the first fruits have to be placed in a basket. This hints that your will, your yearning for good, and your determination to not be defeated, need something to "contain "them. You need to know what the Torah actually demands of you so that you don't take your entire personality and aim it in the wrong direction. The person who offers the first fruits then takes them to the kohein in the mishkan (or later the BeisHaMikdash).This tells us that your final reward isn't necessarily given immediately, even in the Future Life. Hashem waits until the right moment. The example Ohr HaChaim gives is that David wasn't given his full reward until his son, Shlomo, built the BeisHamikdash.
The reason that I thought that these words would be of interest to you is that it is so easy to be focused on the now, that you forget that there is such a thing as "beyond". G-d willing, you will move on in life, and your struggles of today will lead you to a different sort of tomorrow. You may end up with kids who are real Tzadikim, leaders, Roshei Yeshiva. You may be involved in a kiruv program that eventually changes the world. Your real reward can't be seen from here.
What you have to keep looking at is what you are choosing moment by moment. In Shaarei Tshuvah, the author, Rabbenu Yonah, tells us that there are two traits that you have to dedicate yourself to. They are being enthusiastic towards doing what is right, and being careful enough so that your days don't somehow escape you and head out towards the dark recesses of barely remembered time.
Have a great week, and enjoy both the moment and the vision of your future!
Love,
Tziporah
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