This is a direct continuation of what I wrote for Rosh Hashanah, a look at the וּנְתַנֶּה תֹּקֶף (U-netaneh Tokef) prayer, composed by Rabbi Amnon of Magenza (Mainz), a 10th-century Torah-giant who was murdered al Kiddush Hashem (sanctifying the Name of G-d).
This most stirring and emotionally-charged prayer has been incorporated into the Mussaf (Additional Service) of both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur:
“We will relate the power of this day’s holiness, for it is awesome and terrible… On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the day of the Fast of Atonement it is sealed: how many will pass away, and how many will be created; who will live, and who will die; who at the end of his allotted time, and who not at the end of his allotted time; who by water and who by fire, who by the sword and who by wild beast, who by starvation and who by thirst, who by storm and who by plague, who by strangulation and who by stoning; who will have rest and who will wander, who will have quietude and who will be savaged, who will have peace and who will suffer, who will become impoverished and who will become wealthy, who will be humiliated and who will be aggrandized. And repentance and prayer and charity reverse the evil of the decree”.
The precise wording of the final sentence is all-important:
וּתְשׁוּבָה וּתְפִלָּה וּצְדָקָה מַעֲבִירִין אֶת רוֹעַ הַגְּזֵרָה – “and repentance and prayer and charity reverse the evil of the decree”.
Note that they do not reverse the decree itself: that is fixed and unalterable from Yom Kippur until Rosh Hashanah a year later. But they can – and do! – “reverse the evil of the decree”.
“Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except for fear of Heaven” (Berachot 33b, Megillah 25a, Niddah 16b). G-d decrees – but our fear of Heaven reverses the evil of the decree; it can turn a punishment into a reward, a curse into a blessing.
“On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the day of the Fast of Atonement it is sealed: …who will become impoverished and who will become wealthy”.
If G-d decrees that a Jew be impoverished, and if that decree cannot be rescinded after Yom Kippur, then how can the evil of that decree possibly be reversed? How can a decree of poverty possibly be a blessing?!
– Come with me on a spiritual journey, and let us discover the true blessing of poverty.
(It’s not what you’re thinking!)
Allow me, patient reader, to take the first step of our journey of spiritual discovery with a simple question:
Would you rather be poor or wealthy?
Obviously you will answer, “wealthy”. After all, who wouldn’t rather be wealthy than poor? It’s perfectly reasonable and natural to want to be wealthy.
But “who is wealthy?” – Ben Zoma asked. And he answered his question, “One who rejoices in his portion” (Pirkei Avot 4:1, Avot de-Rabbi Natan 33), meaning, one who is content with what he has, one who feels no need for anything more than what he already possesses.
Wealth and poverty, Shimon Ben Zoma taught us, are not a function of how much money you have in your bank account, or how many houses you own. Wealth and poverty are a function of how satisfied you are with what you have now.
The multi-billionaire who is constantly striving for ever-greater wealth, who can never be satisfied with what he has, who cannot enjoy what he already possesses, is truly poor. And the destitute pauper who lives in a hovel, who has to eat meagre meals, whose clothes are thread-bare, and who delights in the little that G-d has given him, is truly wealthy.
Indeed better to be wealthy than to be poor.
So much for material wealth and poverty.
But now, I throw another question at you:
Would you rather be spiritually wealthy or spiritually poor?
I hear your puzzlement as I write these words. Of course – you instinctively respond – I would rather be spiritually wealthy.
Really?
– I would rather be spiritually poor. And please follow me another few steps on our journey of spiritual discovery to understand why I give this seemingly-peculiar answer.
Just as material wealth and poverty are not a function of how many possessions you have, but rather of how satisfied you are with the amount you have, so too with spiritual wealth and poverty.
Spiritual wealth and poverty are not a function of how much Torah you have studied, or how many Mitzvot you keep, or how fervently you pray. They are rather a function of how satisfied you are with the spiritual level that you are on right now.
The Jew who barely knows the Alef-Bet, who can barely struggle through the simplest prayers (or maybe doesn’t pray at all), who has never studied Mishnah, Gemara, Halakhah, or Jewish philosophy, who has scant Jewish content in his life, but is nevertheless satisfied with his meagre spiritual Judaism, is “wealthy”, according to Ben Zoma’s definition.
He “rejoices in his portion”, he is content with what he has, he feels no need for anything more than what he already possesses. He is the spiritual equivalent of the destitute pauper who lives in a hovel, who has to eat meagre meals, whose clothes are thread-bare, and who delights in the little that he possesses.
And the Jew who has spent his life immersed in Tanach, Mishnah, Gemara, Jewish philosophy, Jewish ethics, and the like; the Jew who prays with immense fervour and devotion; the Jew whose very being is his yearning to draw ever-closer to G-d –
– is spiritually poor. He is the spiritual equivalent of the multi-billionaire who is constantly striving for ever-greater wealth, who can never be satisfied with what he has, who cannot enjoy what he already possesses.
So no, I do not want to be spiritually wealthy. I do not want to be satisfied with whatever spiritual treasures I may have amassed. I want to be ever-striving for more.
So if G-d decrees on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that any Jew be poor – then repentance and prayer and charity reverse the evil of the decree. Instead of material poverty – which is indeed a miserable way to live – the decree can be changed to spiritual poverty – which is a true blessing!
I leave you with this thought:
Shimon Ben Zoma was immensely wealthy (Berachot 25a, and Rashi there), so he understood what wealth was about.
Even though he did not receive Semichah (Rabbinic ordination) as his friend and colleague Ben Azzai did, there was no one in their days who was their equal in Torah (Kiddushin 49b, and Rashi there, s.v. בן).
Four men, the Zohar tells us (Volume 1, Bereishit 27a), entered the Orchard, the פַּרְדֵּס (Pardess).
The word פַּרְדֵּס connotes the four levels of understanding Torah:
The first is פ, which stands for פְּשַׁט (p’shat) – the simple understanding of the plain meaning.
The second is ר, which stands for רְֶמֶז (remez) – “hint”, the deeper level of the text which the Torah hints at, the exegesis of the text.
The third is ד, which stands for דְּרַשׁ (d’rash) – “analysis”, the deeper-yet analysis of what the Torah is telling us.
And the fourth is ס, which stands for סוֹד (sod) – “secret”, the secret, mystical teachings of the Torah, which we colloquially refer to as Kabbalah.
Entering the Orchard is idiomatic for gaining a complete understanding of all four levels of the Torah
.
Few – very, very few – are great enough, stable enough, to view the Torah in all its glory and survive unscathed.
The four who “entered the Orchard” of complete Torah-understanding were Shimon Ben Azzai, Shimon Ben Zoma, Elisha Ben Avuyah, and Rabbi Akiva.
Of the four, Ben Azzai died; Ben Zoma went insane; Elisha Ben Avuyah became a heretic; and Rabbi Akiva alone entered the Orchard whole and exited whole and unscathed.
Maybe – just maybe – when Shimon Ben Zoma entered the Orchard, he reached such ultimate spiritual enlightenment that he realised he had nothing left to strive for. I offer, as no more than speculation, that when he reached ultimate understanding of Torah, he realised that he was at last spiritually as well as materially wealthy.
And being confronted with the knowledge and understanding that he could never ascend any higher drove him insane. His task was done; he had nothing more left to live for.
Material wealth is indeed a blessing.
And spiritual poverty is equally a blessing.
So may this coming year 5784 be the year in which every one of us is satisfied with what we have materially, and may every decree of poverty be translated into spiritual poverty – a year in which every one of us will yearn and strive for ever-greater spiritual treasures and possessions!