Sunday, December 14, 2014

Light To Eject The Darkness

As has been noted by many people - the Internet, even those sites run by "Orthodox" people, poses numerous halachic and hashkafic problems. One glaring issue is the amount of lashon hara, which is compared by chazal to murder [among other 'delightful' deeds]. Bloggers LOVE to harp on the latest scandals and to analyze and re-analyze, until the next exciting juicy scandal arises...

There is quite a bit of hatred as well. A person who identifies with Chabad might hate non-chabad while a non-chabadnik will revel in debasing the Rebbe ztz"l and his followers. A "modern orthodox" identifying Jew will hate the more charedi type, who in his mind is close-minded, anti-intellectual, fundamentalist fanatic who just can't see the Light of reason. He just follows his rabbis without thinking for himself. The charedi will sometimes view the more modern Jew as a "neo-goy" with a yarmulke on his head. Soooooo much sinah and condescension.

There is also the issue of מראות אסורות. It is forbidden for a male to look for even a second at a woman who is not dressed in accordance with the laws of modesty and the Internet has forbidden images wherever you go [except I assume at the site of the neturei karta but I would avoid that for other reasons...]. It is not a simple matter. Many people are desensitized but even after a person decides that it is OK and "it doesn't affect him", it remains forbidden according to halacha.

Another problem is heresy. Sooo much apikorsus and many people aren't equipped to deal with it. The apikorsim are often angry ex-frum people with a chip on their shoulder, nebuch-nebuch. Sometimes they still identify as orthodox but are really not religious according to halacha. The wine they touch is forbidden to drink and they have all the halachos of non-religious Jew, but unlike the non-religious Jew they have no excuse of תינוק שנשבה.

A different issue is ignorance. So much written out of ignorance and innocent people swallow it up. "But he is a rabbi so he must know!" A piece of paper that says that one has smicha is no guarantee against ignorance. It just means that he passed a test on a very very small part of shulchan aruch.

I have sources and quotes for everything I wrote but I will suffice with the general idea without getting into specifics. Halevai that all people should be true mevakshei Hashem and only use the meduim of the Internet to spread light, joy, depth, intense spirituality and not darkness.

I try hard to build an oasis of kedusha admist the mabul of its opposite. I can't say whether I am successful and will leave that up to Hashem to decide but I try my best.

On the topic of heresy and ignorance I would like to touch upon something an orthodox-identified writer presented to his readership. I won't repeat what he said or chas vi-shalom use his name because it is not about him but about the idea/s he spreads. Here is a brief response.

There are two parts to Torah. There is the "revealed Torah", Toras Ha-nigleh, and there is the hidden Torah, called Toras Ha-nistar or Kabala. Both are integral parts of the Torah. There is a great deal of discussion regarding who is worthy of studying the hidden Torah which appears in maseches chagiga and many many other sources since then but it is part and parcel of our tradition according to ALL opinions. Saying "I am a rationalist" doesn't give one a heter to deny the importance of studying Toras Ha-nistar. The Rambam was a "rationalist" and talks about Torah Ha-nistar quite a bit [see Yesodei HaTorah].

In our days we were zoche to the light of the Baal Shem Tov. What he and his followers did was bring the light of kabbala down to earth so that even the masses can touch and appreciate it. A person who learns a chasidishe sefer is not instantly transformed into a mekubal but he or she does become more spiritual and more connected to places beyond the confines of our material world. There is no chasidish sefer that doesn't touch upon Toras Ha-nistar. Some mussar sfarim do as well. The mekubalim teach that mesilas yesharim, written by the great mekubal Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato, appears on the surface to be a simple sefer for the masses but it really envelops the deepest kabbalistic concepts and puts them into simple language. What ben or bas Torah hasn't ever learned mesilas yesharim? Rav Yerucham Levovitz, the famed mashgiach of the bastion of "rationality" and "cold intellect", the Mir Yeshiva, gave talks that were filled with kabala as we see from his sfarim which record those talks. Ditto Rav Yosef Leib Bloch, the Telzer Rosh Yeshiva and Rav Hunter, a talmid of Slabodka and later Rosh Yeshivas Mesivta D'rabbeinu Chaim Berlin. Rav Dessler was giving talks in deep kabala in Ponivitch - another bastion of mussar and intellect. Even the father of Modern Orthodoxy, the towering Rav Y.D. Soloveitchik, often used kabala sources in his drashos [and see here].

The Zohar says that before moshaich comes, there has to be a reawakening of kabala study. Rav Kook in his Oros Hakodesh talks at great length about the necessity of studying kabala - it is required reading to see what Maran said in his "Holy Lights".

Here is a passage from a letter he wrote and another from his Oros HaTorah:
כל מי שהוא מוכשר לעסוק בפנימיות רזי תורה הוא מתמלא יותר מאור החסד של תורת חסד ועליו החובה לעסוק בתיקון נפולים ובקירוב רחוקים. אורות התורה י טו - אנו רואים שכשמביטים על העולם לשפטו מצד ההשפעה של הנגלות שבתורה לבד בלא השפעתה של תורת חסד הנובעת ממקור ההשכלה האלהית הצפונה מתגדלת מאד מדת הדין שנאת הבריות ויאוש מכל צד. ואין דרך לעמוד במעמד נפשי מתובל בקדושה בדור שפרצות רבות מזדמנות בו כי אם בהצטרפות של הדיקנות העולה מהשפעתה של התורה הנגלית עם חסדה ואור פניה של התורה הצפונה שאז מתמזגים החסדים והגבורות ביחד ובאים לידי מתוק    
His words are too beautiful to translate [which would constitute "literary manslaughter" if I may coin a term] and I urge you to try to understand the original.

The call of the day is to learn not only halacha and gemara but deeper, hidden wisdom as well. It could be Maharal, Sfas Emes, Shem Mi-shmuel, Michtav Me-eliyahu, Nesivos Shalom or any sefer that brings the light of Toras Ha-nistar to the world and your soul will soar.

Chanuka, the holiday of Light, is the BEST time to start:-).

לזכות שמואל אלכסנדר בן נעכא גיטל לברכה והצלחה בגשם וברוח