Rabbi's Blog

When it comes to make important decisions in life, a person makes use of two essential weapons: his brain, his gut, and sometimes both. In our tradition women are blessed with binah yeseira - loosely translated as additional intellect. More so than men, we believe and have come to see that women have what we commonly refer to as women's intuition. Does a man have a counter-part to this Binah yeseira? I think the answer is yes, and that is that men have a 'gut' feeling when it comes to making decisions in life. Both binah yeseira and the gut feeling which occurs in men have to work within a framework of logic. For example if a woman is baking a cake and the recipe calls for x,y, and z she wouldn't say 'my binah yeseirah tells me I should use a,'b' and 'c' instead'. Likewise, a man won't use his gut feelings and tell himself that even though the speed limit is sixty - his gut tells him that he can push the pedal down to hit eighty- five. There are basic rules of nature and society by which people abide and won't allow their own psyches to convince them otherwise. Typically, men or women use their extra gifts of instinct as the exception to the rule, but don't make it the rule. Similar to this is our understanding and following of the mitzvos. There are a total of six hundred and thirteen positive and negative mitzvos - commandments. Through the centuries these mitzvos have been taught and codified into a standard set of rules and regulations known in halacha as the Shulchan Aruch. While the Shulchan Aruch is the framework, there are exceptions to many of those rules, but those exceptions are only to be determined by experts and followers of the law. I personally try to follow the laws of the Torah as prescribed without having any 'gut reaction' assessment to alter a law in the Torah. Keep in mind this is only for personal adherence to the law. When it comes to a psak halacha - a decision in law for a particular person in a particular situation - there IS room for the sixth sense or fifth section of the Shulchan Aruch. By and large I try to follow the rigorous structure of the law, but when it comes to secular decisions, I stray away from the 'laws of business or investing'. A stockbroker recently asked me why I bought a certain stock. On what information did I base my decision to buy? I answered that I have a gut feeling that the stock is going to go up. After flipping out at how I decided what stock to buy, he made a poignant observation. Since it is very difficult for anyone to lead a single -dimensional life one hundred percent of the time, they need to be a little flexible and loose when it comes to other areas of life. Due to the fact that I lead a strict, rigorous, and structured religious life, it would seem reasonable to be just a little 'crazy' when it comes to investing without any logic whatsoever. In this week's parshas Tzav the Torah states in 6:16 "V'chal Minchas Kohain Kalil Tiheye Lo Teiachel" - "And every Mincha offering the Kohain brought should be completely consumed, it shall not be eaten". The sefer Dudaim BaSadeh explains that when it comes to serving Hashem, a man must not have other thoughts that are mixed in with the service. The service must be one hundred percent dedicated to that particular mitzvah, korban, etc. The entire event must be solely for the sake of Heaven without an ounce of thought for personal gain. Avoda is Tefillah/prayer and during Temple times when sacrifices were offered, if a Kohen had a foreign thought it invalidated the sanctified animal, making it pasul (not kosher, not permitted for use). In terms of this verse, the Mincha of the Kohain is the Avoda - the service. Kalil Tihiyeh - completely consumed - means it is entirely for Hashem. There is absolutely no thought for myself, only for God. What the Torah means by 'do not eat' is not only taken literally but also not having any personal benefit whatsoever from that which goes only to Hashem. We shouldn't be doing any Mitzvos with an ulterior motive. Even the notion 'a man' should do a Mitzva even if he is not doing it for the right reasons, so that he will come to do it for the right reasons was only designed for children not adults. We encourage children to do Mitzvos and receive rewards or treats in order to train them so they will come to want to do Mitzvos later on for the right reasons. But this concept does not really extend to adults who shouldn't need the incentive. When it comes to gashmiyus/physical needs of the world and secular decisions and work, we are allowed to have our own input and our own benefits. On the other hand for spiritual matters and areas when we serve Hashem, we cannot interfere with our own suggestions or agenda. Serving Hashem, particularly with regard to spiritual matters, must reflect one hundred percent pure unadulterated dedication to Hashem without my personal 'gut feeling'. This is all evident in the upcoming festival of Pesach. When we were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt, we were not permitted to think on our own; we had a slave mentality. When we were freed from that slavery, we became slaves to Hashem and must now serve Hashem by just doing the Mitzvos, no gut reaction. All of the Mitzvos associated with Pesach are very detailed and specific, leaving no room for our personal suggestions of how to do things. It takes strength and courage to be free from the bondage of the Egyptians and become free to fulfill the Mitzvos of Hashem, being free yet following the Mitzvos to the letter of the law -precisely to the tee. Let this Pesach be the beginning of our ability to set aside our personal feelings and ideas and become a true Oved Hashem in serving Hashem. Ah Gut Shabbos Rabbi Avram Bogopulsky