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Sivan 15, 5768, 6/18/2008
Become Believers!
I apologize from the beginning, but it’s time once again to read the Torah portion, Shelach, this Shabbat, the portion that tells the sad and tragic story of the Spies. What can I do? I didn’t write the Torah. Perhaps it would be better to forget this disgraceful episode in our history when the Jewish People rebelled again Hashem in the wilderness by refusing to make aliyah. But apparently, by keeping it in the Torah, and having us read about it year after year, Hashem wants us to learn its lessons. If there are readers who have a chip on their shoulder about not living in Israel, and know in advance that they will be offended by what I have to write, then please, don’t read this blog. There are many interesting articles to read on the Internet. Be my guest and read them instead.
Our Torah portion has two main themes: the saga of the Spies, and the commandment of wearing tzitit. Before we explain the connection between them, let’s give a capsule summary of the episode of the Spies for readers who may not be familiar with the Torah portion.
After the Exodus from Egypt, before entering the Promised Land, Moshe sent Spies out on a surveillance mission to check out the nature of the Land, its fortifications, and the strength of its inhabitants. To carry out the undertaking, he chose the leaders of the tribes, the premiere Torah scholars, the most important men in the community, confident that they would return with superlative praises for Hashem’s Holy Land that would inspire the nation to continue on with their journey. But the very opposite occurred. Instead of seeing the good in the Land, they saw the negative, and their report of great fortified cities and giant enemies undermined the will of the Jewish people. Two valiant men, Yehoshua and Calev, believers in Hashem, argued with them, declaring that the Land was indeed a good Land, and that Hashem would surely lead them to victory, but the whining report of the other Spies traveled from house to house, demoralizing the spirit of the camp until the people refused to journey on to Israel. Their disobedience of G-d, and their refusal to abide by His command to make aliyah, brought about the death of the entire generation, who were doomed to another forty years of wandering in the wilderness, until a braver generation could arise, born into freedom, a new type of Jew who didn’t know the fear of the gentile that comes from being a minority in gentile lands.
That’s the story, right? I didn’t exaggerate. I didn’t change things. Everyone can read it for themselves. I won’t even bother to make comparisons to today. See what a good boy I am!
So what does this tragic tale have to do with the commandment that follows right afterward, that a Jew wear fringes on his four-cornered garments, called tzitzit? First, here is the commandment:
“And the L-rd spoke to Moshe saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and bid them that they make fringes in the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each corner a blue thread; and it shall be to you as a tzitzit, that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the L-rd and do them [INCLUDING THE MITZVAH OF LIVING IN ISRAEL] and that you not go after your own heart and you own eyes after which you go astray; that you may remember and do all the commandments [INCLUDING THE MITZVAH OF LIVING IN ISRAEL] and be holy to your G-d.”
This commandment tells us that we are supposed to wear tzitzit. It tells us that we are to remember and do all the commandments. And it warns us not to go after our own desires and eyes which lead us astray. (Bemidbar, 15:37). This was the cardinal mistake of the Spies. They went after their own desires, preferring to live in galut, rather than in Eretz Yisrael. They went after their eyes, seeing only the enemy fortresses and giants, rather than relying on Hashem. There are two types of vision; an external superficial vision that sees only surface matters, and a deeper inner vision that sees the inner essence. The Spies saw only the outer contours of the land, the walled cities, the formidable warriors, the funerals wherever they went, reporting that “It is a land that eats up its inhabitants.” In contrast, the inner vision, the vision of Yehoshua and Calev, is a vision of faith. It is a vision that understands that the Land of Israel, the Land of Hashem, is not just another geographic region, like any other country, with mountains, and streams, and valleys, but that the Land of Israel is as inseparable to the mission of the Jewish People as the body to the soul. Outside of the Land of Israel, the Jewish people are like the dry, scattered bones of Ezekiel’s famous prophesy. Only into the Land of Israel, on our own holy soil, can the Israeli Nation come alive and lead the world back to the service of Hashem, even if there are problems, even if this takes time until all of the Jewish People rally to fulfill the will of their Maker. The Spies were sent to spy out ìúåø the Land. The mitzvah of tzitzit comes to rectify this sin, as it says, “that you not go after úúåøå your own heart and you own eyes after which you go astray.” Today, like in the days of the Spies, there are a handful of people who only see the surface matters when they look at Israel, the political corruption, the proliferation of foreign ideologies, the lack of inspired leadership (as if these exist anywhere else!) Instead of seeing the inner Israel, the Israel of faith, the Israel of Yehoshua and Calev, the Israel that Hashem commands us to live in, EVEN IF THERE ARE GIANTS IN THE LAND, they see only the problems. Like the Spies, in choosing foreign habitations, they despise the cherished Land. Like the Spies, they speak out over the Internet, spreading their slander to home after home, discouraging others from following G-d’s eternal command that a Jew should always live in the Land of Israel. “Remember!” Hashem commands them. “Look at your tzitzit! Don’t follow what your eyes see! Don’t worry about the problems! Rise up to MY vision! Follow ME! Live in My chosen Land!” Yes, there are many Jews who would like to come to Israel and can't, for a variety of justified reasons. We are not addressing them here. Rather, we are referring to those who could, but choose not to, and actively discourage others from coming. May Hashem guard us from their poisonous counsel. Amen. A Jew wearing tzitzit in the Land of Hashem
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Sivan 13, 5768, 6/16/2008
Possessed - UPDATE: The Soldier Returns TB#25
WARNING: this blog contains explicit sexual material. I am posting it because every day, hundreds of thousands of Internet viewers are falling prey to the nefarious web of Internet porn. This is the number one enemy, inside the home, of the Jewish People today. If it helps even one blogger to escape this terrible danger, then it is worth all of the blogs I have written.
Question:
Time and again, I have tried to stop watching pornography on the Internet, but a day later, and sometimes after just a few hours, I’m back at the keyboard, unable to withstand the urge, as if compelled by some kind of magnet whose strength is far greater than mine. Can you tell me what’s at the root of this, and what I can do to stop?
Answer:
The very strong pull to gaze at forbidden images on the Internet is rooted in the “yetzer hara,” the evil inclination. This powerful and unholy force has been around since the beginning of time. The Sages of the Talmud teach that “the eyes see, the heart desires, and the body carries out the sin.” Represented by the snake in the Garden of Eden, the yetzer hara strives with all its might and cunning to draw man away from G-d, as in the story of Adam and Eve, who “saw” that the fruit was pleasing to the eyes and tasted it against the will of G-d. This force gains added strength when a person feels depressed or lacking, leading him or her to fill their emptiness with the deceiving temptations of evil. But the seeming satisfactions of evil are passing, leaving a person to seek more and more illicit pleasure to fill up his or her void.
What happens on a spiritual level is that when a person sins by watching forbidden images and filling his mind with unholy thoughts, the “Shechinah,” or protective Divine Presence, flees from him, and he draws a “ruach ra’ah,” an evil spirit upon himself in its place. At first this unholy spirit is like a visitor, but with every new session at the computer, watching pornography and the like, this evil spirit becomes a permanent guest, until it takes over the person completely. With each transgression, another impure layer of this evil spirit surrounds him, until he is encased by an unholy spirit that takes over his life completely, ruling over him, instead of him ruling over it. This is what causes to feel “possessed” or driven by an urge he feels that he cannot control.
On the spiritual battlefield, breaking the addiction to Internet pornography means overcoming this yetzer hara and shattering the ruach ra’ah, which accompanies the person like an invisible straitjacket wherever he goes. As long as the ruach ra’ah has the addict imprisoned in its deathlike grip, he doesn’t have the wherewithal to overcome the yetzer hara. First, the ruach ra’ah must be weakened and forced to retreat. This can be achieved through the Twelve Torah Steps, outlined in the “Pornoholics Anonymous” section of the jewishsexuality.com website. Here, we will mention a few of the basic weapons needed in the battle. When a person immerses himself in a mikvah, he drowns a layer of the ruach ra’ah that has enveloped him. He is spiritual cleansed, but only for a short period of time. Since a person draws layers and layers of impurity upon himself with each transgression, it isn’t enough to immerse in a mikvah only one time. Multiple immersions are needed, on a daily basis if possible, to weaken the grip of the ruach ra’ah. Concurrently, it is good to recite, also on a daily basis, special prayers called “Tikunim,” which have been formulated by masters of the Kabbalah to obliterate the forces of impurity that a person has drawn upon himself by looking at erotic images, or having engaged in sexual fantasies and sexual sins. To the extent that a person has polluted his brain and soul with unholy images and thoughts, he must replace the damage he has caused his spiritual world through an increased immersion in Torah study which is a powerful, healing medicine. There are many other important strategies in the battle against the yetzer hara, which can be found in the online version of the book, “Secret of the Brit,” in the section on “Rectifying the Brit.” In addition to an anti-porn filter, which you can download and then throw away the code, so you won’t be tempted to override it, these weapons include added good deeds, reciting the Bedtime Shema with great concentration, Tikun Hatzot, and the outpouring of heartfelt prayer before G-d, for without G-d’s assistance, we would not be able to win the battle against this tenacious enemy.
To illustrate, here is a prayer based on an excerpt from the writings of Rabbi Natan, the foremost student of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, from the book, “Likutei Tefillot:”
“May it be Your will, my G-d and G-d of my fathers, that I merit in Your great mercy and kindness to cleanse my mind of foreign thoughts and false wisdoms, that I not pollute and derange my mind with lusts and sexual fantasies, G-d forbid. And that I not infest my brain with lusts and evil fantasies, and that I not have any unholy thoughts at all. Rather let my thoughts be clean, refined, and pure, without doing anything to cause unholy thoughts to lodge there in the holy chamber of my brain, which is like the Holy of Holies. Give me the strength to overcome all evil thoughts and fantasies that come to confuse my mind, especially the evil thoughts that I have brought upon myself by not guarding my sight, and by looking at illicit matters. Let me not give room at all in my mind to such polluted thoughts and deeds, which distance me from You with a horrible distance. Have mercy upon me, my G-d, for I know the terrible damage these evil thoughts cause in all of the upper spiritual worlds which are always connected to my mind through the awesome interconnectedness of Your creation, and which sever me from Your holiness, and from the holiness of Israel, the source of my life. You alone know the great and terrible lust which overcomes me, confusing my mind again and again, polluting my very being until my mind is completely filled with evil fantasies. And not only have I not overcome these evil inclinations, but I myself brought them upon myself through my wanton doings, when I knew that this unholy behavior wasn’t Your will for Your holy Jewish People. Woe is me for the days that I have wasted in sin.”
“Therefore, my G-d, and G-d of my fathers, I come before you with a broken and sorrowful heart, humbling myself before Your Kingship, appealing to Your mercy like a poor man at the gates, that You forgive me in Your abundant kindness, though I be undeserving, and that You bring me from darkness to light, and that you help me from this day forth to sanctify my thoughts. May I be successful in banishing these polluted thoughts from my mind, and avoiding like fire anything that awakens evil fantasies and lust in my heart and my brain. Give me the strength to overcome my evil inclinations, and may my thoughts be always holy and sanctified in Your service. Amen.”
(“Likutei Tefillot,” 1:4)
May Hashem grant you strength and steadfast persistence in the ever-raging battle. Amen.
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Sivan 12, 5768, 6/15/2008
The Cry Babies
Unfortunately, cry babies are not unique to this blog. They have been with us ever since our departure from Egypt, as the Shabbat Torah reading records:
“And when the people complained, it displeased the L-rd; and the L-rd heard it, and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the L-rd burned among them, and consumed those who were in the uttermost part of the camp (Bamidbar, 11:1).
They complained about the journey through the wilderness; they complained about their weariness; they kvetched about this, and bitched about that.
One of Israel’s foremost educators and popular writers on Jewish Studies, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, rabbi of the settlement Har Bracha, teaches that complaining is a poisonous weakness. When a baby hears another baby crying, he begins to cry too. The complaining in the wilderness led to more and more complaining. Next they complained about the Manna which fell from Heaven, lusting for meat instead. Rashi explains they complained at the same time about the laws they had received at Mt. Sinai forbidding sexual transgression. So pernicious was their complaining, it even affected Miriam and Aharon, who complained about Moshe. Finally, it led to the greatest crisis and sin in our history, when the complaining of the Spies about the Land of Israel caused all of the people to whine in their tents and complain about G-d’s command that they make aliyah.
Likewise, there are those who cry and complain today. Finding things to complain about Israel, they too refuse to come on aliyah.
May G-d save us from their poisonous murmurings.
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Hollywood to the Holy Land
by Tzvi Fishman
Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Creativity and Culture
Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, Tzvi Fishman was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook.
His other books include: The Kuzari For Young Readers and Tuvia in the Promised Land. His most recent book, Secret of the Brit, can be found at JewishSexuality.com, along with an abbreviated online version. |
