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Orchard of Delights Re’eh

tradition teaches us to connect ourselves to holy people to catalyze many similarities with the paradox of human free will and Divine
the process of drawing nearer to God, it also teaches us not to place Providence and Omnipotence.)
any intermediary between ourselves and God. We must depend on Inherently, the ego is neither a blessing nor a curse, it all depends
ourselves. Idol worship is based on the notion that intermediaries – on how much we clarify our sense of self. In Hebrew there are
human beings and the forces of nature (which in fact do the bidding of actually two words for “I”: anochi and ani. (In fact they share the
the one God) – should be turned into independent divinities, worthy same letters but “anochi” has an additional letter kaf.) When the
of worship in their own right. letters of the word “ani” are permuted they spell ayin (nothing). This
As we have throughout this book, whenever we discover that permutation hints at a profound truth. At times the ego truly does
Judaism propounds two equally valid contradictory positions, we stand between us and God, between us and other people, and even
should attempt to find the correct balance between the two by finding between us and our own true natures. Truth be told, most of the time
their common ground, where they complement one another. Here the ego stands between us and everything else. When it does this, it
too, we discover that we must balance between acknowledging that can be labeled a “curse.” However, this only happens when we allow
others possess spiritual powers and abilities we do not and, therefore, the ego to go unchecked, when we give our animal impulses full reign
it is an honor and privilege to learn and emulate their ways, and the over our thought, speech, and action. However, when we channel the
necessity to guard against losing our own identities, our own free ego in the right direction, it becomes a healthy instrument for doing
will, and the sense of responsibility necessary to develop our own good and aiding us in fulfilling our life goals. In this sense, the ego
unique relationship with God. can become a blessing. This having been said, without committing to
the hard and, at times, humbling spiritual work entailed in clarifying
These two ideas are beautifully expressed in this portion in what
seems to be a contradiction between two consecutive verses: “Face to and purifying the ego, we will usually find ourselves in thrall to its
face did God speak with you on the mountain from the midst of the raw unadulterated influence. We will find it leading us into an endless
fire. I was standing between God and you at the time, to relate the morass of jealousy, anger, selfishness, and the drive for power and
word of God to you, for you were afraid of the fire” (Deuteronomy control.
5:4-5). In the first verse God seems to speak to the people directly The entire book of Deuteronomy seems to reflect the paradox
and in the second Moses clearly relays God’s message to the people. inherent in the ego as it is the only one of the five books of Moses
How can we explain this phenomenon wherein God spoke directly written in the first person. Sometimes when Deuteronomy uses the
to the people, yet Moses stood between them and God? The peshat word “I” (anochi), it clearly refers to Moses, while sometimes it clearly
explanation might be that first God spoke to them directly and refers to God. However, at other times it is difficult to ascertain who
then, because they were frightened, Moses transmitted any further is speaking, God or Moses. This alludes to the point we have been
revelations. Indeed, according to tradition, God delivered the first driving at: when the ego is truly clarified, man and God become one.
two of the Ten Commandments directly to the people, while the This is what happened with Moses, for he had managed to clarify
concluding eight commandments were transmitted to the people by his ego to such a degree that the Shechinah (God’s Divine Presence)
Moses, as they were afraid that the awesome power of God’s words spoke through his throat. He only reached this level because, as the
might overwhelm and kill them. However, on a derash level, we can Torah testifies, “And the man Moses was very humble, more than
explain that these two verses embody the fine balance between the any person on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). Humbleness,
role the holy person plays and the importance that God speak to the entailing a high level of ego clarification, did not diminish Moses’
people “face to face.” power; paradoxically, it increased it exponentially.

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