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Orchard of Delights
And it happened after these things that God tested
Abraham and said to him, “Abraham,” and he replied,
“Here I am.” And He said, “Please take your son, your
only one, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the land of
Moriah; bring him there as an offering upon one of the
mountains which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22: 1-2)
That mountain according to tradition was the Temple Mount. The
Sages also teach that Jacob was promised that he would inherit
the Land of Israel and had his archetypal dream about the angels
ascending and descending a ladder at this very location. Indeed, the
Midrash teaches that God caused the sun to set quickly to force Jacob
to spend the night in that exact spot (Bereishit Rabbah 68:10).
Ultimately, those objects, times, places, or people that God chose
became holy specifically because He chose, designated and separated
them for a special task or mission. What does this teach us about the
relationship between choice and our search for holiness? The Sages
taught that “a dream follows its interpretation” (Berachot 55b). In
other words, if we put a good “spin” on a dream and interpret it in a
positive way, it will manifest positively. In this sense life is very much
like a dream. Daily events and occurrences are open to a myriad of
interpretations. The way we experience life is ultimately determined
by how we choose to interpret what happens to us.
A life of holiness is ultimately the result of our choosing to be
involved with those things that God has chosen to be special and
holy. The more we surround ourselves with Torah, learn it in the
original Hebrew, give honor to and enjoy the Shabbat, and connect
to the Land of Israel and Jerusalem, the more we can understand
and ultimately integrate holiness into our lives.
Yet, above and beyond all that we have said regarding attaining
holiness, the Slonimer Rebbe stresses another dimension numerous
times in his Netivot Shalom: ultimately holiness is a gift from God.
We of course have to do our part, by making our will His will and by
fulfilling the Torah to the best of our abilities, but ultimately holiness
is bestowed upon us from above. By choosing a lifestyle infused with
Torah, mitzvot, and good deeds, we greatly increase the likelihood of
our being granted the unique and special quality we call holiness.
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everything around him (particularly, aspects of Jewish law, for the
laws concerning patrilineal descent were directly responsible for his
predicament). A fourth reading, which we would like to suggest, is that
this story proceeds logically from – “comes out of” – the discussion of
blemishes at the beginning of Emor. The blasphemer’s psychological
blemish was as real as any physical blemish, if not more so.
The Midrash notes that the blasphemer’s father was actually the
Egyptian Moses killed when he witnessed him beating a Jewish slave
(for in both cases the Torah uses the term “Egyptian man”). This
Egyptian had slipped into the blasphemer’s mother’s bed while her
husband was at work at night and unbeknownst to her she slept with
him. When her husband found out, the Egyptian beat him mercilessly
(Rashi on Exodus 2:11). From this unholy union the blasphemer was
born, and in saving the blasphemer’s non-biological father, Moses lost
his privileged status as a prince of Egypt and had to flee for his life. Thus,
the lives of Moses and the blasphemer are profoundly intertwined.
A comparison of how the blasphemer and Moses dealt with
the seemingly fickle blows of fortune is highly instructive. The
blasphemer was bitter and rebellious. He felt that he was the victim
of a cruel and fickle fate, and this ultimately led to the outburst in
which he cursed God for his plight. Moses could have reacted the
same way. One day he was a prince of Egypt and the next day a
fugitive. Furthermore, it seems as if the person who informed the
authorities about Moses’ actions may very well have been the Jew
he saved. Indeed, the day after Moses killed the Egyptian he saw two 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 13 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Magenta #24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 13 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Yellow
Jews fighting and tried to break up their fight. The Midrash informs 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 13 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Black 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 13 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Cyan
us that one of the men taunted Moses, subtly threatening to turn
him over to the authorities if he did not mind his own business. This
man, according to the Midrash, was the blasphemer’s non-biological
father (for who else would have known about the murder). Thus the
man Moses had saved instead of showing Moses gratitude actually
threatened him. Immediately after that confrontation Moses’ murder
of the Egyptian became known to Pharaoh and Moses had to flee.
Having lost his privileged status as a prince of Egypt and suffering
forty years of exile as a fugitive for defending a thankless Jew, Moses
had many opportunities to bewail his fate. Yet he never lost hope,
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