Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Don't Let Things Get Stale

לזכות אהובי ר' ברוך בן ר' משה הוא ביתו וכל אשר לו לבריאות שמחה וכל טוב סלה

On Tishba B'av we start Krias Hatorah with the pasuk of כי תוליד בנים ובני בנים ונושנתם בארץ - When you have children and children's children and get OLD in the land. Then the pasuk says והשחתם ועשיתם פסל תמונת כל ועשיתם הרע בעיני השם - and you become corrupt and make an idol and do what is evil in the eyes of Hashem.

That is EXACTLY what Chazal mean when they say [see the previous post] that the yetzer hara makes the mitzvos feel old for us so we look for other forms of "entertainment" and "excitement" [i.e. a matzav] and eventually to idolatry. The root of the problem is in the ונושנתם - mitzvos got old. Moreover, ונושנתם בארץ - Even the feeling of Kedushas Eretz Yisrael became stale and meaningless. Hashem gives special protection and has a close eye on the land but that didn't stop us from serving idols.

The tikkun of Tisha B'av starts with Elul [really with Tu B'av but maybe for another time] whose mazal [constellation] is besulah. New, fresh, first time, exciting. That is Elul. אני לדודי ודודי לי. Love is in the air between us and the Creator.

Then comes Rosh Hashana. Chazal say  בכל קרבנות כתיב והקרבתם ובר"ה כתיב ועשיתם אמר הקב"ה
וכו' מעלה אני עליכם כאילו היום בראתי אתכם בריאה חדשה ילקוט פנחס י"ט  - Regarding all korbanos it says והקרבתם - you must sacrifice, while with regard to Rosh Hashana it says ועשיתם - you made. On Rosh Hashna we have the power to "remake" ourselves anew.

Chazal also say תקעו בחודש שופר - blow on the new month a shofar, "חדשו מעשיכם"-  make your deeds new. שופר means שפרו מעשיכם - improve your deeds.

When the shofar wakes us up from our slumber we are like new people. Sleep is a little taste of death [as the gemara teaches-  ששים ממיתה] and when we arise, it is תחיית המתים - new, fresh life.

In Parshas Nitzavim it says אתם נצבים היום - you are standing here today, in order to enter the covenant with Hashem. היום is a reference [according to the Zohar Hakadosh] to Rosh Hashana. היום also means [according to Rashi in numerous places such as אשר אנכי מצוך היום in Shema] that בכל יום יהיו בעיניך כחדשים - every day should be like new. This Rosh Hashana covenant must always be seen as something new  - even to the future generations [see Dvarim 29/13-14]. That is the tikkun for כי תוליד בנים ובני בנים ונושנתם.

Let us feel the hischadshus. Rosh Hashana is almost upon us!:-)

[Based on a Divine (albeit non-prophetic) communication I was zoche to have on this holy yom revi-i bi-shabbos].