NORMAN RABBI U$m THE JEWISH C E M R
PARSHAT BAMIDBAR MAY 2 1 , 19&6
"BEYOND
Our Haftorah for this morning, from the second chapter of Hosea, begins on a high optimistic note? "And the number of the children of Israel
shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be iseasured or numbered,w For a people which chronically suffers the status of a minority, this prophecy coses as a cheerful source of encouragement* The verse seems simple enough. Yet the Rabbis of the Talmud (Yoma 22b$ detected in this statement an apparent contradiction. The first half of the verse says that the number of the Children of Israel will be very large -- as great as the sand of the sea. That, indeed, is a large numberj but it is not infinite. The second half of the veree speaks of the population of Israel being so great that it cannot be measured or numbered! this implies an even greater ber of Israelites* this is, of course, oaly an apparent contradiction, because the prophet wants to explain his metaphor and tells us that by the words "as the sand of the sea,n he means that the people of Israel will be well nigh too many to count. But the question of thei&abbis, counterposing the idea of a finite with the idea a i an infinite number, was meant merely to introduce the answer f they offer: kan bi'zeman she'osia retgono she! makom, when Hosea speaks of the Children of Israel being beyond number he refers to a time when the Israelites will do the will of Ge<$s and kan bi*zeman shc*ein osin retzono shel makom, when Hosea speaks of us being merely as many as the particles of sand on the seashore he refers to a time when we will not perform the will of God. Now this is a strange answer. When one reads the beginning of our Eaftorah, one finds himself in a mood which is favorable to our people who
obviously are considered as deserving of divine reward. How, therefore, can the Rabbis maintain that the great promise that we will be as many as the
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sand of the sea refers to a tiae when we do not do the will of God? I should like to propose an answer, which, to w& mind, touches the heart of the Jewish outlook on God and man, add contains an incisive and perceptive comment on the ethics of our Torah. The answer derives from a comment, in another context, by on* of the most seminal of Hasidle thinkges, R. Zadok Ha-Kohen of Lublin. The Kohen, as he is called, distinguishes between two terms; retzono shel n t o p and .mjtavato shel makom, fkgt the will of God and the commandment of God* All of the Halakhah, including the 613 Biblical ccsamandisents and the loasy more rabbinic coimnandments, represents God's mitzvah, His eoifflmndment, His directions, His demands upon us* These are the things that we must do in order to justify our existence
before Him, But the mere performance of the divine eonaaandment His mitzyah * does not exhaust the relation of God and m&s. There is mush that goes beyond mltgvotA an overplus of isea&iBg, whole worlds that transcend the idea of taitzmh or comaandment. This is the area of retzono shel makom,fciwwill of God. Ood waat of us more t*yan He coiMiands us; His ratgqn is far greater than His mitzvah The divine mitgvah is soiaething that every Jew can, witji
enough exertion, perform completely. But that extra something beyond the commandment, namely, the rataoa* is what each individual must strive to realize and actualize according to his own ability and talent. For instance, the idea of laitzvah xaeans that we are each of us ccfmaanded to be a decent member of the Jewish comunity nd fulfill his obligations. But the will of God, the ratzon is that we be far more than passive participants in the dram of Jewish lffe; it means that those of us who have any leadership ability must develop it and use it. fhe will of God, fes that we not inly give by get, that we not only belong bttt that we bring in others, that we not oaJ$ react to others but that we act on our own.
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One of the most obvious places where we may see the difference between and will Is the study of Torah, I t i s important t o keep this in
sri8d s p e c i a l l y in contemporary times, when despite a l l our extravagant talk about intellectuals and sophistication, the study of Torah -- the real intellectual content of Judaism * i s honored more in the breach than in the practice* The Talmud (Menahot 99b) had already told us that one can get away with a minimum i s hfcgao wishes: a.'.ijba'i aiffcar nafgheihbi'keriat shema shaharit v j a r y i t , merely br reciting the Shema, which i s % portion of the Torah Itself, one can raalfy fulfil3j&he requirements of studying Torah by day and by night I t i s easy enough t o abide by the mitssyah of the Almighty.
But the function of man i s t o go beyond t h i s , and to t r y t o live up t o God*s w i l l , His ratzon* And in this case, the Jew must realize the verse of Joshua who,, speaking of the Torah said* ye'ha^ita bo yoiaam valailah. "you shall meditate therein by day and by night*" The commandment of God may be confined to the recitation of two brief passages: the will of God i s that we live in the study of Torah constantly, by day and by night, that every spare moment be devoted to the contemplation of the Torah, Interestingly, bothethese interpretations found their way into the
explanation of Rashl on the Mlshnah in Ayot which sajrs aseih toratekha keva, that we must set aside regulat times to the study of Torah. One cossnent in
Rafeki has i t that we must study be'khol YOHU every dayi the other requires of us to study kol hayom, all day* The f i r s t i s the commandment of Gd$ the second i s His w i l l . With t h i s distinction between mitzvato shel Makora and retzono shel Makoin, we may understand what the Talmud verse in the Haftorah. told us about our
Both halves of t h i s verse are set in the
4 context of an Israel which is obedient to the Lord. In both
cases, Israel accepts and perfows the commandments, the mitzvah of the Almighty, The difference between these two halves
is this: The first half, which speaks of Israel being rewarded by a large population, but not a very large one, refers to the time when Israel will perform only the commandments of God, but fail to live up to His will* Whereas, tfee second half of
the verse, which promises an extraordinaf^lfcylarge increase in Israelis citizenry, refers to the time when the Children of Israel will perform not only the commandments of God, but, even more, retzono shel Makoat -- His infinite will! This distinction between mitzvah and ratzon affords us a new insight in Judaism that is relevant to us and our times* For one thing, it means that none of us, no matter how observant we may ber and no matter how Orthodox we consider ourselves, dare ever submit to the temptation of self-righteousness* It means
that no matter how great our religious accomplishments may be vis-a-vis others, we must always bear and conduct ourselves with the utmost of humility We must always remember that loyalty
to the Halakhah is not at all an expression of maximal Judaism, but merely minimum Judaism! To observe every last iota of the
Shulhan Arukh is to live up to the mitzvato shel Makom/* And that, most certainly, is not enough! If we observe Kashruth, Shabbat,
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family purity, prayer, and all the other Institutions of Judaisms-we have only reached the level of God&s commandmentsThe real
test of genuine piety and authentic Jewishness is h^n we can get beyond the mitzvah and reach out for the sublimity ratzonl of GodTs
This will of God Is far greater than His commandments
not only quantitatively, but also measured by the standard of the kind of attitude we bring to the practice of Judaism, If
we approach Judaism in the sense of mitzvah, then it becomes for us an ole ha-mitzvota a yoke, a burden, an abstacle to our freedom* But when we live the Jewish life with a feeling that then
we are blessed thereby, thet this is what makers us happy -- we have gone the beyond commmandments towards the will. The
test therefore is:?when we live Jewishly, do we feel deprived or privileged? Dp we consider that the regiment of religion
hampers us or hallows us? Indeed, it its with reference to the study of Torah that our
Rabbis (Midrash Shir ha-Shirim) tell us a remarkable story that illustrates our point. Ben Azzai was teaching Torah, when suddenly the people about him noticed a remarkable sight: a wall of fire enveloped him. They quidkly came to R. Aklva and reported the Whereupon R. Akiva hurried to Ben Azzai and
incident to him. asked him:
Is it true what they say, that a wall of flame Yes, answered the
enveloped youfofeileyou were teaching Torah? younger colleague of the great Tanna.
Is it perhaps, asked
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R. Akiva,,because you were studying the maaseh merkavah, the m f f oec mysterious portion of the forah, that part which deals with the most divine secrets, and therefore it was the holiness of the subject matter which caused you to be enveloped in flame? No, answered Ben Azzai, it was nothing as remote and mysterious as that. I was simply studying Torah Neviim, and Ketubim --
just some Humash, some Haftorahs,and perhaps reciting some Psalms. What, then, was so unusual about my study? It was
neither the particular subject matter not the amount of studying I did; rather, ha-devarim hayu semehim keTyom netinatam MBfrsin&lj vfarevim ke*ikkar netinatarn * It is just that I was so happy, so overjoy&d, so enraptured with tfee Torah, as if this were the very day it was given from Sinai. Therwords were as sweet and as precious to me as when they were given. Indeed so! The study of Torah must not be considered merely an obligation which one must dispose of by doing it however reluctantly* It must be consfldlered at all times as a joyous
fulfillment of the will of God, as a reenactment of the drama of Sinai, far and above what is demanded of me, but rather in the realm of what is wanted of me. This distinction has special relevance to the great Jewfckh institution of charity or taedakah. If a man gives, no matter
of the amount, he performs a mitzvaha-and a very, very great one* But the will of Go4 goes far beyond this. To give a coin to a
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poor man Is to perform a commandment; to help him so that he does not become poor in the first place, that is the accomplishment of retzono shel Makom. To give by itslef is a mitzvah; that
to Jjive with love, with grace, rith kindness and joy -- *s
tne
ratzon of the Atoighty*
Mitzvah means that I five what I normally do; ratzon is achieved when I five more than I can. Mitzvah means that I give to any charity which approaches me without discrimination; ratzon means that I use ray Jewish intelllgende to discern which are more deserving and which less. Mitzvah mesas that I give, no matter what the amount, because I fefcl I must -- whether because of reasons of conscience or social pressure or something I wish to achieve thereby# Ratgon means that Iggive uncondition-
ally, without thought of personal benefit, and with full inner participation and love. This difference between commandment and will with regards to philanthropy is beautifully reflected in a passage in the Talmud, gosh Hashanan 4a: If one says I will give this coin to chatity in order tiiat my children may live, or In order that I may merit the life of the world-to - c ome, harei zeh taaddik gamur the man who gives in this manner ia completely righteous. Such Is the reading. $n our text of the Talmud. But it is a prob-
-8 leraatlcal onej can such selfish and egotistical giving be the work of a
man who is termed a tgaddik g f f * * * completely righteous Individual t The flt commentaries on the Talmud struggle with that question. But an answer is provided by another reading of the same text offgred by the great Siabbenu Baaanel and Meiri. Their text reads harei geh tzedakah gemurah, that this kind of philanthropy is considered complete philanthropy. In other words,
it is a complete fulfillment of the mitzvfok to give charity; but it does not at all characterize the one who gives in this isanner as a tzaddik gamurl In terms of our own thought, this means that if one gives, but his giving is motivated by someeselfish concern, then he has abided by the cossmandment of Gadbjrt he is still ^
e t#tzyah
very far from performing the will, the ratzqn of god,
was performed, the act was fuHy done in accordance with every
particular of the law. BBut such giving iw without compassion and without love, and therefore has failed to rise to the level of retgonofehelMakom, for the will of God is to give witfcout the eacpectatlon of any reward, even without a spiritual kick-backJ Now we may understand the words of our Rabbis in ffcrkei Avots aseh retatono ki'retgonekha, do His w i n...