Rabbi's Blog

The cycle of life stirs up childhood recollections of games, toys, stories and many more great memories. In anticipation of our grandchildren’s arrival for summer vacation, we purchased items that we thought they would enjoy. One such item was a child see-saw. It immediately brought back the old nursery rhyme we would sing while going up and down on the toy: ‘See-Saw Knock at the door. Who’s there? Grandpa. What do you want? A glass of beer. Where’s your money? In my pocket. Where’s your pocket? In my pants. Where’s your pants? I left them home. Get out of here, you drunken bum! There are a few meanings to this rhyme, but most agree it is about a game kids played by balancing a log of wood across another log while sitting on each end singing this song as one child went up and the other came down and vice versa. The past few months have been a real-life see saw for the Jewish people; open miracles and tragedies have been a part of our life in Eretz Yisrael and around the world. I am very comfortable with the notion that life has its ups and downs. Every person, no matter who he or she is, cannot exist in this world by only going up or going down all the time. As the old saying goes, ‘Whatever goes up must come down’. The challenge we all face is one of trying to balance life evenly and not have extreme swings of emotions or highs and lows that are constant and varied. In fact, we try to stop the swing before it gets out of control. Any extreme in life is difficult to handle, especially when it causes swinging from one extreme to the other.

 

Throughout life a person experiences ups and downs with God, sometimes during good times, other times of difficulty or trouble.. In the realm of spirituality, particularly with regard to the belief in God, we may fluctuate and waver within our belief. We are on a spiritual see saw, believing a little more or a little less. Nevertheless, despite this wavering in belief in Hashem, there is usually a point or minimum level that we will always hold fast to and believe in. There exists the ‘pintele yid’ - the spark - the flame that every Jew has which never goes out. The notion that everyone believes is hinted at in this week’s parsha.

 

In Parshas VaEschanan 4:35 the Torah states: “Ata Hareisa LaDaaas Ki Hashem Hu HaElokim, Ein Ode Milavado”. “You have been shown in order to know that Hashem, He is the God”. This verse is said by nusach Sefard prior to taking the Torah out of the Ark. Ashkenazim recite this verse as part of the Simchas Torah prelude to taking out the Torahs before dancing. *Rav Yoisef ben Meir Teomim in his commentary “Noam Megadim” asks, “What does the word ‘LaDaas’ ‘to know’ ,found in this passuk, teach us? The word ‘LaDaas’ seems to be superfluous.” There is no question that a person is shown something in order to know about it. Rav Teomim explains this with the concept of seeing is believing and another phrase that hearing about something pales in comparison to seeing something. We have no doubt in our belief in God. Even before Hashem gave us the Torah He opened up the heavens and the skies and at that moment everyone knew ‘Ki Hashem Hu HaElokim’ - ‘it is Hashem. He is our God’, as we affirmed by saying the words ‘VaYaaminu BaHashem U’vMoshe Avdo’, and we believed in Hashem and Moshe His servant.

 

All that occurred at Har Sinai and the Jewish people’s belief in Hashem came only through ‘knowing’ but not seeing. As is learned in the laws of testimony, “Oh Raah, Oh Yada”, either through knowing or seeing can a person be a witness. There is the ability to know something without seeing it first or for that matter never seeing it! Now we come to understand our Passuk, Now I am showing you this ‘to know’, which means to add to your existing knowledge from that which you previously knew already. This time it is seeing eye to eye and gives us a deeper understanding and belief in Hashem because we were shown this miracle at this time.

 

We the Jewish people are MaAminim Bnei MaAminim - believers the children of believers. Our faith in God is sometimes challenged and tested, which in turn makes our dedication to Hashem fluctuate, causing it to go up and down. We always believe but sometimes Hashem recognizes that His children need a little more openness of Hashem. This is the case in point regarding our passuk.

 

No matter where any Jew is on his personal level, he has a deep-rooted connection to Hashem that is sometimes up and sometimes down. Hopefully, Hashem will provide some hint or insight when we are down, helping to swing us back up. Just as the child thrusts himself up on the see saw, so too we need to push ourselves up to reach higher and get closer to our Father in Heaven.

 

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

 

 

 

*Joseph ben Meir Teomim (1727–1792) was a Galician rabbi born at Lemberg. While still young he succeeded his father in the position of preacher and rabbinical instructor in the yeshivah of Lemberg. Later he went to Berlin, where he stayed several years in the bet ha-midrash of Daniel Itzig. Then he resumed his former position at Lemberg, and in 1782 was appointed rabbi at Frankfurt an der Oder, where he remained until his death. He was buried on the Jewish cemetery at Frankfurt/Oder