THE ART OF SPIRITUAL COMEBACK
Click vayeshev 2020 for download
THE ART OF SPIRITUAL COMEBACK
Parashat Vayeshev
Covid has taken a toll on the spirituality of the system. During Covid, 30 percent of Yeshiva students in Israel did not return to Yeshiva. Some, because they dropped out. Some, because they didn’t fit in, to begin with. Some, because they were on the verge of outgrowing the system or because their families feared someone catching Corona. Out of 80,000 yeshiva students in Israel, 24,000 are out on the streets.
Covid has taken a toll on the spirituality of the individual. Corona did not only cause inactivity in the gym and in the arena of exercise, shopping, or getting out. It caused us to be inactive spiritually as well. If a person has an excuse not to pray with a minyan, not to recite K. Shema on time, Corona makes it all the harder to do what we’re supposed to do.
People want to be spiritually motivated again. People want the tools to motivate others spiritually. Chanuka is a time for a spiritual comeback. That is what Chanuka is all about, to look for whatever spiritual motivation you have and light it up. Make something out of the little that you have, no matter how small it is. How so? There is a fundamental difference between Purim, where we have a mitzvah to make a meal, and Chanuka, when we don’t. On Purim, we celebrate that our lives have been spared from the decree that came because we participated in Achashverosh’s party. We contrast that to Chanuka when we celebrate that our spirituality was spared from the decrees that came because we blended with Hellenistic culture. On Chanuka, we commemorate our spirituality’s reignition and that we got a chance to serve G-d and do His Mitzvoth again, with the highest level of adherence.
It is so interesting. We celebrate the miracles of the miraculous jug of oil. We had good excuses back then, either not to light the Menorah, or to light with impure oil because of the rule טומאה הותרה בציבור. But still. We celebrate that we found the one jug and had the 8-day miracle. We rejoice that, despite the circumstances, we were still able to serve G-d in the best way possible. The Chanuka miracle that we celebrate was that we did the best we could, with the little we had, and G-d took care of the rest. As the Al Hanissim prayer on Chanuka dictates, the war that we won was for the sake of preserving our spiritual level. Chanuka is the message of spiritual motivation, to gravitate towards G-d, like the candle’s oil, that gravitates towards the flame.
Judaism teaches us that the things you notice least, the things you take for granted most, are the things you should thank G-d for first. Through these things, one connects to G-d, no matter where the person is, spiritually. Like the ability to breathe, to exist, to have a soul, and… the ability to think and differentiate. Each morning, after blessing G-d for your body, for your soul, the first blessing is הַנוֹתֵן לַשֶּׂכְוִי בִינָה, לְהַבְחִין בֵּין יוֹם וּבֵין לָיְלָה: The one who gives the rooster (Rashi), or the heart (Rosh), the understanding, to distinguish and differentiate between day and night. Both in the blessings in the morning (Sephardic version) and in the Amidah prayer, the prayer for being able to understand and differentiate, is immediately after the blessing of holiness and the blessing of the soul, and for a good reason. G-d gave us the wisdom to be able to differentiate between day and night and between anything else that is symbolic to day and night. Between truth and false, good and bad, what is important and what is not as important. Between Mitzvah and Sin, a Talmid Hacham and a simpleton, a Jew and a Gentile, between Olam Hazeh and Olam Haba.
Chanuka teaches us the first step to a spiritual comeback. Chanuka is the holiday of differentiation, of how oil is different from water, how a Jew is different from a gentile, and how the spiritual realm is different from the material one. With Aristotle’s mathematical philosophy, the Greeks challenged the Jewish philosophies of spirituality with mathematical logic. Prove that Shabbat is holier than Sunday, prove that a circumcised man is holier than a man without circumcision, and prove that a spiritual Rabbi has the authority to control the calendar and make Rosh Hodesh. Prove that the G-d you can’t see exists. The Greeks are referred to by the Torah as Dark, חשך זה יון, because they challenged us to differentiate between holidays, holiness, holy people, and those that are not. Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh, and Brit Milah. The letters that spell ח’שך ש’בת כ’ורת … The acronym of which is חשך, darkness… The Greeks made anything spiritual dark.
The first step to reigniting spiritual motivation is to shine the light through the darkness and differentiate between what is spiritual and what is not, what is important and what is not. To differentiate what are the main things in life, and what is secondary. Our answer to the Greeks, is, that we don’t have all the answers, but G-d does. G-d tells us the realities that we don’t see, and that is how we differentiate. Shabbat is holy because G-d made it so. Circumcised men are holier, because G-d said so. Rabbis have the authority to decide the calendar because G-d empowered them. G-d tells us, לא בשמים היא, the Torah is given to Man, and the greatest Rabbis are the ones who have the authority to differentiate what is right and what is wrong. (B. Metzia 59b) This is the lesson of Chanuka. It is not always easy to differentiate between people. Between who is good to be in a relationship with, and who is not. When Yosef got lost while looking for his brothers, וימצאהו איש… וישאלהו האיש And a man found him, and the Man asked him. Rashi says this “Man” was the Angel Gabriel. The question is, how does Rashi know that this Man was Gavriel? Earlier, Rashi says that when Yaakov went back for some jugs, he fought with the איש, the Man, … that Man was the Angel of Esav. How do we know that the previous איש is the Angel of Esav, and the איש here is the Angel Gavriel? The answer is because the way a Man responds to a situation tells us who he is. A “Man” who comes to help is a good angel. But a Man who, when you ask him to bless you, he says, I have no time; I have to sing to G-d – this Angel is the Angel of Esav. If a person makes helping other people part of his serving G-d, that makes him G-dly. The way you know how holy or spiritual a man is is according to how the person responds to adversity, disturbances, difficulties, and expenses. (see Eiruvin 65b)
It is not always easy to differentiate between who has a future and who does not. Yosef knew that the dream follows the interpretations. Why did Yosef interpret the dream of the wine butler that he would come out of jail and release him? Why not interpret the dream of the baker for good? The answer is, Yosef differentiated between what they said they saw in the dream. In the wine butler’s dream, the butler was active in pressing the grapes and serving Pharaoh. While in the dream of the baker, the baker was passive. The ones who are active, have a future. The ones who are passive, inactive, do not.
Chanuka has in it the power, to make us active again. If only we would spin ourselves around, we could bring the Mashiach. The letters on the Dreidel, נ’ג’ה’ש’ have the same numerical value as משיח. The words מדליקים שמונת ימי חנוכה begin with the letters of Mashiach. One should run to see a king of the Gentiles to differentiate between their kings and our kings when Mashiach comes. (Berachot 9b)
Selfie Steps for a spiritual comeback:
- There are six elements of persuasion and influence, for oneself and for others: The first is Reciprocity. People are influenced by favors and encouraged to return favors done for them. REALIZE how you don’t realize how much G-d has given you, is giving you, and will give you, and sing Hallel to Him.
- Scarcity. When a person realizes how there is no one else like him in the world; that today will never come again; there is no place other than here – this will motivate him.
- Authority. Often, we can’t differentiate between what is important in life and what is less important. G-d differentiates for us, and He gives us Rabbis to guide us.
- Consistency. People are influenced to do what they are already doing. Get out of the inactive zone by forcing yourself into activity; people tend to need routine, to do what they are already doing.
- Liking. People are influenced by people they like. Make friends with spiritually motivated people, and you will become spiritually motivated.
- Consensus. People are influenced to do what they see others doing. Get into a Yeshiva, a Kollel, a learning program, even if it is just on Zoom or Phone Conference.
