Parshat Shemos 5785
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha the beginning of the exile in Egypt, of Galus Mitzrayim. The Medrash Rabbah in this week’s parsha (2,5) quotes the pasuk in Shir HaShirim (Chapter 5, Pasuk 2), אני ישנה ולבי ער. I am asleep, but my heart is awake and aroused. The Medrash teaches, אני ישנה מן המצוות; my body is sleeping and too overwhelmed to perform the mitzvos. But לבי ער; my heart is aroused and interested in doing mitzvos.
The Medrash is teaching the tension that exists within the individual between his physical body and his Neshamah, his soul. Though I may not be performing the mitzvos as required, my heart is in the right place. My thoughts are connected to Hashem, but I am too distracted and tired from all my obligations in the physical world to fulfill the commands of the Torah.
The Sfas Emes teaches that the greatest Galus is the Galus of the Neshamah trapped and imprisoned within the physical body. We read that the Egyptians began enslaving Bnei Yisrael. The pasuk states (Chapter 1, Pasuk 14), וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה בחומר ובלבנים; they embittered their lives with hard work, with mortar and bricks. Bnei Yisrael became too involved in their work and in the חומר, in the physical world. They were involved in all the vanities of this world, of work and making a living to the point where they were too distracted to focus on connecting with Hashem. And this only prolonged the Galus. The individual exile of the Jew, of his soul to his body, ultimately has ramifications on a national and on a global scale as well.
Clal Yisrael are meant to be the Neshamah to the world. We are meant to be the guiding, spiritual light of the world and our physical, mundane work is meant to be carried out by the nations of the world, as the pasuk says in sefer Yeshayahu (Chapter 61, Pasuk 5), ועמדו זרים ורעו צאנכם. The other nations shall serve as shepherds to your sheep. And then when our situation with ourselves and with the nations of the world is arranged the way it is meant to be, then the honor to Hashem is complete as well. All will see the holiness and the true Divine nature of the Jewish Neshamah.
But we can’t assert our position in the world as long as we ourselves are struggling with our own essence. We need to determine whether we want our soul or our body to dominate over us. For throughout history, we have found ourselves with our souls subservient to our physical needs and desires. As the pasuk says in Eichah (Chapter 5, Pasuk 9), בנפשנו נביא לחמנו. We have employed our souls in providing bread and food. Our spiritual resources are necessary just to maintain our physical existence. This has been our lot from one exile to the next.
But we have great hope in that לבי ער; our collective hearts are awake and aroused and wishing to become more connected to our true source and essence. And the pasuk continues, קול דודי דופק; the voice of my beloved is knocking. The beloved in the pasuk is the Jewish Neshamah, looking for a way to be released from within its prison. It needs just a small opening in order to let out its incredible light and light up the darkness of Olam Hazeh.
The first chapter of Tehillim we recite during the Kaballos Shabbos davening Friday night is Chapter 95, לכו נרננה לד'. Come, let us sing songs of praise to Hashem. We read in the seventh pasuk, היום אם בקולו תשמעו. Today if you listen to his voice. The Gemara Yerushalmi in Ta’anis (Chapter 1, Halacha 1) learns that the word היום is referring to Shabbos.
The Sfas Emes teaches that Shabbos is a day when our Neshamah can easily be dominant. This is because the Torah commands us not to do Melacha. We are not to work and be involved in our regular, mundane activities. Our guf is at rest. Therefore, היום אם בקולו תשמעו; listen to the קול דודי דופק. Listen to the voice of your holy soul tell you it wants to be let out and be expressed. Shabbos is the day to give expression to the spiritual longings of your soul. Shabbos is the day when we experience how are we are truly meant to live our lives, with our Neshamah dominant over our guf.
And this is why Shabbos is זכר ליציאת מצרים. It is a day of Geulah, of redemption. Our Neshamah is able to escape the shackles of the physical world. And since we receive a Neshamah Yeseirah on Shabbos, it only increases our ability to let our Neshamah dominate and give us a sense of how our world and the entire world as well, is meant to look like.
Good Shabbos
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