BS”D
The sages call Passover, “the chag of Emunah.”
Emunah carries us through the “nights” in life. We have the ability to connect those moments of adversity, pain, fear, and confusion to their hidden Divine Source. When we do, we can sit in the middle of a raging storm or deep in the darkest dungeon, yet simultaneously rise above it to a place that is Ein Sof, without limitation. It is a fundamental quality that distinguishes the Jewish people from the other nations of the world.
Emunah has many facets to it. Beyond emunah in Hashem, His hashgacha in the world, and His relationship to the Jewish people, is emunah in the spark of goodness and Godliness that is within each one of us:
Just as person is required to believe in God, so too is he afterwards required to believe in himself…. [O]ne must believe that God, may He be blessed, delights and revels in his doing His will. And this is the understanding of, “and they believed in the Hashem…” (Shemos 14:31)…. The 600,000 souls of Bnei Yisroel in that generation believed that God desired them…They further believed that He wanted and was gratified by the good side within them. Tzidkas HaTzadik 154
Doing Hashem’s will goes beyond the simple fulfillment of the mitzvos. The mitzvos are really a means to an end. Their real purpose is to give us the tools and preparation we need to both reveal and actualize our spiritual potential.
Chazal teach that before entering the world each neshema is shown the unique role it will play in creation and the mission(s) it is meant to accomplish. It is also shown all of the circumstances that will be sent to it. The neshema is then required to take an oath that it will be committed to these goals.
Rav Soloveitchik adds to this the concept of shlichus. He explains that we are emissaries of Hashem, in the same way that Hashem made Moshe His agent for the job of redeeming Bnei Yisroel. As it says:
וְעַתָּה לְכָה וְאֶשְׁלָחֲךָ אֶל־פַּרְעֹה וְהוֹצֵא אֶת־עַמִּי בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָיִם׃
And now, I will send you to Pharoh, and you shall free My people,
the Children of Israel, from Egypt.
Shemos 3: 1o-15
It’s a task that would shape the rest of Moshe’s life on earth. So it is for each of us:
The fact that a person is born in a specific time period and in a particular place, can only be fully understood if we accept the essential idea that man is sent there by Hashem. Hashem and His Providence knows when and how the individual, with all of his shortcomings and strengths that are imbued within his soul, will be able to fulfill his mission on earth. He knows which circumstances, conditions and which society will allow him to maximize his potential. Yemei Zikaron; pg 9-27
Hashem never sends us on a mission that we are incapable of fulfilling. It is a lifelong process that permeates every single moment of our lives. Hashem is also our partner in this journey. He does not send us off alone; He personally escorts and supports us the entire way.
Bottom line: Hashem really wants us to have emunah in our inherent goodness and importance in the scheme of creation.
So simple in theory; but so to hard internalize.
Afterall, if I truly believed in my own importance and unique spiritual mission, then how can I so easily get pulled away from it? How could I doubt Hashem’s assistance, if He put me in the world for the explicit purpose of fulfilling a mission that no one else can accomplish? And, how could I ever look at any other person in a negative way? Each and every individual is an exclusive shaliach of Hashem!
Leaving Our Personal Egypt
In an earlier article I mentioned that the mitzvah of seeing ourselves as if we left Egypt on seder night is a call to visualize in great detail who we could be… without the hot air and fluff, without the added artificial ingredients and preservatives that keep us locked in our personal golus and pull us away from our essence.
The days leading up to Pesach are a preparation– both physically and spiritually– to help us get in touch with our essential qualities… and to believe in them. All that chametz and all those physical things that we keep holding on to that have no current value to us, are just a distraction.
On seder night Hashem wants our essence… baked flour and water… simple… yet complete.
But how do we actually get to such a place? How do we get rid of the internal chametz and increase our emunah in ourselves and our value?
The answer can be found in the following possuk:
שֶׁהִכָּה גּוֹיִם רַבִּים והָרַג מְלָכִים עֲצוּמִים
לְסִיחוֹן מֶלֶךְ הָאֱמֹרִי ולְעוֹג מֶלֶךְ הַבָּשָׁן וּלְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת כְּנָֽעַן
He struck down great nations and slew mighty kings. To Sichon the king of the Amorites and to Og the king of the Bashan, and to all the kingdoms of Canaan.
(tehillim 135: 10-11)
So, you may be wondering… what this has to with emunah in ourselves.
Just bear with me 🙂
There are three unusual things about these possukim:
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- First, notice that the order is interesting. The first possuk starts with goyim then the mighty kings. The next possuk, however, first lists the kings then the nations.
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Also, why is Og Melech HaBashan mentioned in the middle? Why not start with either the kingdoms of Canaan (to keep with the above order) or Og who Moshe feared had some merit that would enable him to conquer the Jewish People?
- Finally, what is the “ל” there for (for instance לְסִיחוֹן)? In Hebrew, the ל is used to denote possession. It seems to imply that the great chesod on Hashem’s part was that He destroyed something which these kings and kingdoms possessed, not the kings themselves!
Keep these observations in mind. We’ll get back to them later.
There is another layer of meaning hidden in the second possuk:
לְסִיחוֹן מֶלֶךְ הָאֱמֹרִי
The name סיחון is related to the word סיחה (See Bava Basra 78b 12-15) which means “speech,” as well as שיח which means “tefilla”(see rashi bereshis 24:63) and the word הָאֱמֹרִי is related to the word אומרים, sayings.
The nature of any conversation determines which words come out as a result. Conversations with positive goals breed positive words. Conversations with negative goals will inevitably breed negative words.
ולְעוֹג מֶלֶךְ הַבָּשָׁן
The phrase לְעוֹג “to Og,” is related to the word לעג which means ridicule, disrespect, and to scorn (Tehillim 79:4, Iyov 34:7, Mishlei 17:5). The wordהַבָּשָׁן is related to the word הַבַּיְּשָׁן which means a bashful or embarrassed one.
According to the fundamentals of chassidus, how scornful and disrespectful a person is regarding others, is an indication of how he sees and thinks about himself. Deep down this attitude determines the level of personal embarrassment the scorner himself feels inside.
וּלְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת כְּנָֽעַן
Chazal teach that seven morally corrupt nations inhabited the Land of Israel before the Jewish people arrived after the exodus. These nations represent the seven clipos or shells. They are negative spiritual forces that are attached to the physical desires of this world. These clipos really cover over and contain an intense, ohr kodesh, a holy spiritual light.
When we act on a worldly desire without connecting it to Hashem, the clipa and its concealment get stronger. When do connect it to Hashem, then the shell of impurity cracks a bit, creating an opening for the ohr kodesh to shine out.
The Three Steps to Emunah in Ourselves
On a spiritual level, these mighty kings and kingdoms both represent (and embody) the powerful negative forces that act on us from within. When they are allowed dominion they don’t just block out our perception of Hashem’s existence and Omnipotence. Their real goal is to keep us away from our own spiritual greatness and potential.
Just like the physical battle fought between Bnei Yisroel and these nations, we need Hashem’s help to overcome them. The order in this possuk, however, hints to how we can merit the Sciata D’Shamaya we need to be victorious.
Sichon Melech HaEmori: the Power of Positive Speech
Words are the intermediary between the head and heart. Whereas our thoughts color the reality we see, words more than thoughts, quite literally create our reality. On account of this, they sit at a powerful gateway.
There is a midrash that when Amalek sought to attack the Bnei Yisroel, they spoke the Canaanite language in order to confuse them. Amalek is the symbolic embodiment of the Yetzer Hara. According to the Pri HaTzaddik, they tried to influence Bnei Yisroel through the power of sichon, insiduous, self-defeating words which would cool down their emunah in Hashem and their ability, with Sciata D’Shamaya, to be victorious in battle (see Pri HaTzaddik Devarim 2:2).
Words are closely connected to intent. So, seemingly positive or pleasant words spoken with evil intent can do great damage. We see this in the incident of the spies. Though they started their report with positive words and each phrase was technically true, their goal was to dishearten the Jewish people by making them think the situation was hopeless… and it worked.
Once their words put insidious thoughts in the minds of the Jewish people, Calev’s affirmations of emunah had no effect. The damage was already done.
When the Jewish people passed by the territories of Sichon, even though they were not commanded to offer them peace, they nevertheless sought peace from them. [Rashi bringing Midrash Tanchuma Chukkath 22, Num. Rabbah 19:27]
They stood at the gates and requested permission to traverse his territory “neither turning off the main road to trample field or vineyard, nor drinking from his wells, but rather remaining on the highway until passing through” (Bamidbar 21:22). Sichon, fresh from his recent victory over the Moavites and unconvinced of the Jewish People’s peaceful intentions, ventures forth instead to engage them in battle.
He said to them, “My very presence is only to protect them from you, so how can you suggest such a thing?” – [Rashi bringing Midrash Tanchuma Chukkath 23, Num. Rabbah 19:29]
Their softly worded request for peaceful passage is simply ignored and overpowered by Sichon’s belligerent response. They are summarily rebuffed and instead attacked with force.
Such was Sichon. He was the Melech of peh rah (פה–רעה :פרעה), an evil mouth. Sicha goes two ways, however. The antidote to a peh rah, is פה–סח :פסח, a “speaking mouth” full of words of Torah, emunah, gratitude, combined with tefilla, ahava, empathy and encouragement. (Pri Eitz Chaim, Shaar Mikrah Kodesh, ch. 4)
Such “pleasant speech” spoken with positive intent can help us to see ourselves and our situation in life in a new light. This is the first step to change negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors– even if we should say such words without feeling them. If the intent is to come closer to Hashem and ourselves then, it will create an opening for further Sciata D’Shamaya.
For this reason, according to the Arizal, the Haggadah should be recited with a loud voice and great joy!
Og Melech HaBashan: the Power of Positive Thoughts
Our thoughts color our reality. No word, emotion or action can happen without a thought preceding it. But, slaying those negative thoughts and instating positive ones in their place is very hard.(source: The thought of sin is more difficult than act. Yoma 29a)
According to chassidus, the best approach to dealing with negative thoughts is hesech hadaas (הֶסֵּחַ הַדַּעַת), that is, distraction. We simply ignore these mental intrusions and start thinking about something else. This approach is based on two principles:
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When you fight head on against your negative thoughts, it only engraves them deeper into your mind.
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You can only focus on one thought at a time in your mind.
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True as it may be, doing this entirely in the mind can also be difficult in practice– especially at the beginning.
That’s why we need, להסיח דעת, to divert our attention, with סיחה, positive speech. When negative thoughts crop up, saying words of emunah and Torah specifically out loud help to distract our minds from the negativity and keep us focused on these positive ideas. These words are the way in to the mind and the weapon we can use to squelch our negative thought patterns.
Several midrashim on Og Melech Habashan point to the fact that he was the King of ridicule and scorn. (see Bereshis Rabbah 53:10; Brochos 54b ) His very name came from the Ogot Matzos (literally, matzah cakes) he saw Avraham Avinu baking when he informed him about the capture of Lot (Devarim Rabbah 1:25). On the surface this act seems rather noble. But what Og really did was chose to focus on the cake while throwing out the matzah.
Our negative thoughts- especially thoughts related to how we see ourselves- are our worst enemy. The most damaging is disparagement of self since it prevents us from acting on good impulses. Instead, it locks us into a downward spiral of deflating thoughts, feelings, and actions.
A negative self-image extends outwards, too: to those around us, to Hashem, and His world. The outside world then becomes a further confirmation of our negative self image. For this very reason chazal proclaim: The embarrassed one does not learn (לֹא הַבַּיְּשָׁן לָמֵד). He can’t learn because he doesn’t believe he can change… He doesn’t believe his actions will do any good or make any difference… So, why even bother?
This attitude at its foundation is a serious misstep. When the spies gave over their slanderous report, they mention their encounter with the giants of the land:
There we saw the Nifalim, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. In our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.
Barmidbar 13:33
According to the Midrash (Midrash Tanchuma Shelach 7), God holds them accountable to this part of the report:
I forgave them for that [remark]; but I was exacting [when they said], ‘And so we were in their eyes.’ Who said to you that you were not like angels in their eyes?
In a significant twist, the so-called “kamtze” that helped to eventually defeat Og were, according to targum Onkelos, grasshoppers:
Og the King of Bashan uprooted a mountain three Persian miles square, lifted it over his head, and prepared to throw it upon the people of Israel. The Holy One blessed be He brought ‘kamtze’ that chewed a hole in it, and the stone instead lodged around his neck. When Og attempted to lift it off of his neck…he was unable to do so. (Brochos 54a-b).
The Kingdoms of Cannon: the Power of Positive Actions
The Torah command to utterly destroy the seven Canaanite nations is a Milchamos Mitzvah— a mandatory war. The reason for this commandment is to keep us from learning from their immoral and idolatrous behavior:
So that they should not teach you to act according to all their abominations that they have done for their gods, whereby you would sin against the Lord, your God. Devarim 20:18
Rambam (Mishneh Torah,Hilchos Melachim 6:1) points out that even so, before engaging them in battle we must first extend an offer of peace (we see from the battle of Sichon mentioned above).
If the seven nations accepted upon themselves both tribute and bondage to the Jewish people and to observe the seven Noachide laws, they were not to be harmed in any way. (ibid 20:11).
The mitzvah to destroy the seven Canaanite nations applies to both men and women and continues to this day in all times and all places.
Canaanite nations represent the clipot of impurity that try to rule over the body. In order to fulfill our mission in this world, both our physical and spiritual selves need to work together. Trying to remove or even reduce the dominion these clipot have over the body, however, is extremely difficult. Even if we speak words of kedusha and emunah, and even if we know intellectually the emes of a given situation, we may still not act on what we know.
Before going out to battle with the Canaanite nations, the Torah lists the three categories of men who were excluded from fighting: one who has built a new house and has not yet inaugurated it, who has planted a vineyard, and has not yet redeemed it, and one who has just married a woman and has not yet taken her. In all three instances the Torah adds the phrase: “lest he die in the war and another man (ish acher) [will come to complete and enjoy these endeavors in his place].
Why would these situations specifically exempt someone from entering the battle, and what is the “great agmas nefesh” that Rashi refers to in their regard? (ibid 20:5) If the man actually does die in the fighting, then in any case, he’s dead. Worldly matters won’t matter so much to him at that point!
I believe the answer revolves around the Torah’s emphasis on his potential death and the rise of the so-called ish acher. The ish acher is none other than the sitra achra in its strongest form. The “death” of the individual means that he has succumbed to the ruminations of his mind. In these three cases, such men are more susceptible to the wiles of the evil inclination. They will likely be distracted by grief and worry. They will have forgotten about the holy battle they are in engaged in as well as the One Above Who fights it.
The truth is we are all such fighters in the war with our physical selves. For that reason, this applies to both men and women and continues to this day in all times and all places.
So how to we get the body to shed the grief, worry, fear, anger…?
We pretend! We act as if these thoughts and feelings don’t exist to the best of our ability until Hashem helps us to better align ourselves.
What this means in a practical sense, is that we keep trying to do small acts that bring us closer to the place our spiritual side is pulling us to. We act even if we don’t believe we can change… even if we don’t believe our actions will do any good or make any difference… even if we are distracted by countless worries, fears, and doubts.
Sometimes, we can bring a physical desire over to the side of kedusha– i.e. we make peace with it. Other times, the only thing to do is to slowly work to completely destroy its roots and branches.
To Sichon the King of Amori, to Og the King of the Bashan, and to the kingdoms of Canaan…
The moment we agree to do battle on these three fronts, we reduce their dominion over us. Instead, Hashem hands over this dominion to us. We get a little more in touch with our inner light and our mission in this world. The greater our emunah in our spiritual abilities and tafkid, the more Hashem can help us fulfill His plan for creation.