LESSON 50: Making Sense Of It All
 
After years of pursuing God at a time that mankind was Godless, Avraham Avinu was rewarded with prophecy, and an eternal covenant for him and all of his descendants. And, keeping that covenant can be summed up by the words: When Avram was 99 years old, God appeared to Avram and He said to him, “I am God Almighty, walk before Me and be tamim.” (Bereishis 17:1) For the most part, the word “tamim” is translated as “perfect”, something which, as Rashi explains, Avraham was about to become through Bris Milah. However, the word “shalaim”, as used with respect to Ya’akov Avinu after his struggle with the angel (Bereishis 3:18), would have been more appropriate to express such an idea. Therefore, “tamim” has an additional nuance of meaning: be simple in your perfection. Be up front with God and Torah. Man has a tendency to “serve” God in the most convoluted ways, rationalizing that which really ought not to be rationalized, all in the Name of God. Serve God in a straightforward manner, and you will never stray from this covenant. Ironically, Jewish history has been anything but tamim. From its inception, perfection has been pursued through the least simplest of means, at least from man’s perspective. The very creation of the dynasty of Moshiach, beginning with the birth of Avraham from idol-worshipping Terach, to the birth of the ancestor of Dovid HaMelech on one side from the union of Yehudah and his daughter-in-law, Tamar, and on the other side, from that of Lot and his daughter, to the rest of Jewish history, has been anything but straightforward! What has been going on? Mirmos v’tachboles. As mentioned before, Yemos HaMoshiach represents utopia for mankind, but annihilation for the Sitra Achra, yetzer hara, and Malach HaMaves (see Lesson 32). Therefore, as much as we long for history as we know it to come to a conclusion so that Yemos HaMoshiach can finally begin, the Sitra Achra wants it not to begin even more. Therefore, he will do anything he can to thwart it, or at least hold it off for as long as can. In the end, he is still only doing his job, making redemption a matter of free-will, creating resistance that we have to choose to overcome in order to usher in the period of Yemos HaMoshiach. And, what’s worse is that he does such a good job that people are either intimidated to get involved, or they have just lost interest in the topic altogether, distracted instead by everyday concerns and pleasures. Nevertheless, regardless of what we do or how much we participate in the redemption process, it has to come; there are Heavenly deadliness that have to be met. We can choose to either bring them about on our terms, or let them come about on their own terms, which rarely works well for the Jewish people. But who wants to engage the Sitra Achra head on? As the Talmud states, “Do not open your mouth to the Satan” (Kesuvos 8b), which means, don’t start up with the Sitra Achra, because doing so can have disastrous results. How much more so is this true if one is attempting to bring out redemption, and therefore, the demise of the Sitra Achra himself? Hence, explains the Arizal, there is the concept of mirmos v’tachboles. It is at the root of every major historical event meant to advance the cause of Moshiach’s arrival, and which has occurred in a seemingly non-Torah way (Sha’ar HaGilgulim, Ch. 38). “What can be born from a man such as Terach?” mocked the Sitra Achra, only to be shocked, when it was already too late, by the birth of Avraham Avinu. “What can result from the union of a father and his daughter?” he snickered, only to be thrown for a loop once the righteous Rus emerged, and became available for yibum with Boaz, the descendant of Yehudah and Tamar. For, when it comes to geulah, you have to make it seem as if just the opposite is being accomplished as long as you possibly can. Otherwise, as the GR”A found out in his time, one encounters obstacles and roadblocks all the way, as the Sitra Achra fights to save his own skin, and cost us ours. The only way to make significant progress, explained the Arizal, is with the use of mirmos v’tachboles. The only problem is that Heaven has done such a good job of it, that, unfortunately, even we have been fooled as well, perhaps even misjudging the redemption that is already well in progress.
Sunday, February 17, 2008