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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

A man is driving on the highway, when suddenly he notices a red dwarf standing on the road. He gets out of his car in alarm and asks: “Hey dwarf, why are you suddenly standing on the road? I almost ran you over.”

The dwarf: “I’m a small and annoying dwarf. Give me a strawberry and I’ll move.”

The man gives him a strawberry and the dwarf moves. He continues driving and suddenly a yellow dwarf jumps onto the road. Again, he gets out of his car in alarm and asks the dwarf: “Why did you jump onto the road?”

The dwarf asks for a banana. The man gives the dwarf a banana and the dwarf moves. He continues driving and again a blue dwarf jumps onto the road.

Now he gets annoyed, opens the window and shouts at the blue dwarf: “You are a small and annoying dwarf, and what do you want?”

The dwarf says to him: “License and registration, please.”

THIS AND THAT

It’s known from our Sages that every Haftora needs to reflect the theme of the weekly parsha, and this rule applies to our parsha, Parshas Vayikra. The Haftora for Parshas Vayikra begins with the words: “This people I formed for Myself, they shall tell My praise.” The prophet Yeshaya rebukes the Jewish people for abandoning the korbanos in the Beis HaMikdash and turning to idol worship. This theme corresponds to the main subject of the parsha, which also deals with offering korbanos in the Mishkan.

The Navi describes at length the worthlessness of idols made of wood and stone, and the absurdity of worshiping them and bringing offerings in their honor. But the idol worshipers “do not know and do not understand, for their eyes are plastered from seeing, their hearts from comprehending.” The unusual title at the beginning of the Haftora, referring to the Jewish people as “this people” (“am zu”), and not by their usual name (“Bnei Yisrael,” “Am Yisrael,” “Am Kadosh”) raises the curiosity of our Sages, and they interpret it with an interesting Medrash, a kind of wordplay.

“Let ‘this one’ come and receive ‘this’ from ‘this one,’ for ‘this people.’ ‘This one’ refers to Moshe, as it is written (Shemos 32:1), ‘For this man Moshe’; and receive ‘this’ refers to the Torah, as it is written (Devarim 4:44), ‘And this is the Torah which Moses set’; from ‘this one’ refers to the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written (Shemos 15:2), ‘This is my G-d and I will glorify Him’; ‘for this people’ refers to Yisrael, as it is said (Shemos 15:16), ‘This people whom You have acquired.’” (Menachos 53b)

The simple question asked about this Medrash is – what is the special virtue in being ‘this’ or ‘this one’? The Jewish people have many titles. The truth is that earlier in the same discussion, the Gemara brings several terms of endearment by which the Jewish people were called by the prophets and by Hashem. We find that the Jewish people are called: ‘mighty,’ ‘beloved,’ or ‘good,’ and everyone understands that there is a certain virtue in being ‘mighty,’ ‘beloved,’ or ‘good,’ but what is good about being ‘this’ or ‘this one’?

In a wonderful Chassidic maamar, the Rebbe explains the inner meaning of being ‘this,’ and the direct connection between ‘this’ and the true and complete Geula!

The explanation hinges on the essential difference between the word ‘this’ (zeh) and the word ‘thus’ (koh) which appears frequently at the beginning of prophetic statements (“Thus (koh) says the Lord”). The term ‘this’ means that this is the true essence of the thing we are discussing, while the term ‘thus’ expresses that the speaker is not aware of the true essence of the thing, he does not know it in all its aspects and details, but rather has a superficial and external knowledge regarding the matter in question. That is why the prophets prophesied with the words “Koh omar Hashem,” because they could not sense the G-dly revelation as it is, in its essential nature, but only knew it in a more external and superficial way. In contrast, Moshe, the master of the prophets, was able to bring the G-dly revelation as it is, also below, to this physical world, and therefore Moshe prophesied with the words “Zeh ha’davar.”

This fundamental point is expressed in another matter. The term ‘this’ is truly applicable only to matters of holiness and G-dliness, since they are not means to something else, but their purpose is in themselves. In contrast, worldly matters or physical matters in general cannot be called ‘this,’ because what we see with our eyes is only their external dimensions, their physical form and image, and that is not their true essence. The true essence of everything is the purpose for which it was created, and in physical things we do not directly see the inner purpose for which they were created; what we see with our eyes is only their external layer, and therefore we cannot call them ‘this.’

So it’s impossible to say ‘this’ about a physical thing, except for one thing – Am Yisrael!

THIS IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT

The Jewish people, because of their connection and devotion to Hashem Himself, and because of their connection and devotion to the holy Torah, they too are called ‘this.’ Just as Hashem, is called ‘this,’ “This is my G-d and I will glorify Him,” and just as the Torah is called ‘this,’ “And this is the Torah which Moshe set,” so too, the Jewish people, who are connected with the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Torah, are called ‘this.’

And this is the wonderful virtue in being ‘this,’ to be a person whose inner essence is recognizable, in whom the supreme intention of his creation is recognizable. A person, a Jew, who fulfills the purpose of his creation through a true life according to Torah and mitzvos, thereby completes the reason for which he was created, and thereby merits the title ‘this.’ A title that is bestowed only on one in whom the intention of his existence and the reason for his reality is recognizable.

But the Jewish people are not called “this people” (am zeh), but rather “this people” (am zu), in the feminine form. Usually, in the holy language, ‘am’ (people or nation) is masculine, so what is the reason for this linguistic change, why call an entire people in the feminine form, “am zu”?!

But here a deep moral lesson is hidden. In Kabbalah, the male and female symbolize the giver and the receiver. The male is the giver, while the female receives her influence from the male. The Haftora teaches us that in order to be ‘this,’ in order to bring the purpose of one’s creation into action and revelation, we must feel and live like a ‘female’! We must feel and live like a ‘receiver’!

What does this mean?

The true connection with G-d and with the Torah is specifically when a Jew fulfills the Torah and mitzvos in the way of accepting the yoke, meaning that the person feels that he is only a receptacle, a receiver-female, for the supreme will. He does not fulfill Torah and mitzvos because of his desires, because of his personal motivations, because of some reason or hidden reason, not even a reason of holiness. He fulfills Torah and mitzvos for one and only one reason, because that’s what G-d said, because that’s what G-d wanted, and in doing so he shows himself that his whole essence and existence is only a ‘receptacle’ for the divine will, and therefore the Jewish people are called in the words of the prophet by the name: ‘this people’ (am zu), a people of receivers, a people of obedient ones, a people connected with the Creator Himself!

And this is also the special connection to Geula. In the Medrash (Shemos Rabba 23 at the end) it is said: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Yisrael, in this world you said before Me once, ‘This is my G-d,’ but in the future to come you will say the same thing twice, as it says (Yeshaya 25:9), ‘And it shall be said on that day, behold, this is our G-d; we hoped for Him, and He saved us; this is the L-rd; we hoped for Him.’”

The Rebbe Rashab explains in one of his maamarim the words of the above Medrash, that the aspect of ‘this’ that was revealed and is revealed in the world now is not at all comparable to the aspect of ‘this’ that will be revealed in the world to come, when we will say before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘this’ twice. What is the inner meaning of being ‘this’ twice? After all, as mentioned above, ‘this’ symbolizes a reality whose inner essence is recognizable, we see what it really is. If so, why would we call someone or something ‘this’ twice, if we already see everything about it?

The point is how much it is revealed and how it is revealed. In this world, even when we see the inner essence, the thing is still very limited, and it is revealed in distinctions and differences, mainly, it is revealed in the world of intellect and ideas, the world of understanding, but not in tangible vision. Only in the future to come, will the essence of everything be revealed in tangible vision to the eyes of flesh, then when “the glory of Hashem shall be revealed” and “all flesh shall see together that the mouth of Hashem has spoken,” the truth will be revealed, to everyone, without any divisions, and without any limitations. Then, the inner essence of everything will be revealed not only to the eyes of the intellect, but also in a physical way, to the eyes of flesh. If only we would merit to see how good it is to be ‘this’ two times over!

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

And we’ll end with a story that teaches us that the true ‘this’ of a Jew is the service of G-d and the purpose of his creation, and not the physical matters with which he comes into contact.

As is known, Rabbi Moshe Sofer, know as the Chasam Sofer was able to deliver a shiur for four or five hours straight, and his wife the Rebbetzin, who was concerned for his well-being and health, would place before him on the table a plate with a small cake and a cup of drink. But usually the Chasam Sofer would not taste the cake, only if his strength was completely exhausted.

Once it happened that the heart of the gabbai weakened and he coveted the cake. He noticed that throughout the past week the Chasam Sofer had not touched the cake, and he figured that probably today he would not touch it either, and therefore allowed himself to eat it. However, to his misfortune, on that very day, during the delivery of the shiur, the strength of the Chasam Sofer was exhausted. He placed his hand on the plate to take the cake, and noticed that it was gone.

He turned to the gabbai and asked: “What happened today? Did the Rebbetzin not bring a cake?” and the gabbai who found it difficult to withstand the test lied and said: “The Rabbi already ate the cake.”

For the shocking and sharp response of the Chasam Sofer he was not prepared: “If it was just about whether I ate the cake or not – I could certainly be mistaken, and without paying attention I might have eaten it. However, it is clear to me as the sun, that if I had said the bracha, ‘borei minei mezonos,’ I would have remembered, and if I don’t remember, it’s a sign that I did not say the bracha…”

Good Shabbos!

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