Taa'mu u'Re'u -- the temptation of the eitz ha'daas; the joy of the eitz hachaim

The following is part of what I said last night at a siyum to mark the 8th yahrzeit of my MIL, Mrs. Schulamith Bechhofer.  We are less than a week past a different number 8, the day of Shmini Atzeres,  the climax of the period from Rosh haShana until the end of the chagim.  Rashi (Vayikra 23:35) famously writes  כֵּיוָן שֶׁהִגִּיעַ זְמַנָּן לְהִפָּטֵר, אָמַר: בָּנַי,... קָשָׁה עָלַי פְּרֵדַתְכֶם.  But just as that p'reida when we must leave Hashem's presence is just temporary, so too is the preid'a between the living and those who are departed, until the day of בִּלַּע הַמָּוֶת לָנֶצַח וּמָחָה ה׳ אלקי־ם דִּמְעָה מֵעַל כׇּל פָּנִים.

There is a Noam Elimelech I've been holding in my pocket, so to speak, for 3 months  (you can find it in parshas Eikev, not on Braishis) just waiting for the opportunity to share it.  What is it that attracted Chavah to eat from the eitz ha'daas?  When we speak about Adam and Chavah we are talking about a level of greatness that we cannot even imagine.  What was the great temptation of this fruit that led them to give up, quite literally, paradise?

 

The Noam Elimelech writes:

 

והנה המשל בשעת פריחת הפירות אז הוא דבר נאה מאוד ונחמד למראה, כמו שאמרו חז"ל היוצא ביומי ניסן וראה אילנות מלבלבים מברך כו', ואחר גמר הפרי הוא טוב למאכל, ונמצא דבר גשמי בשעת הפריחה עיקר התאווה הוא לעינים וצריך לברך, ובשעת גמר הפרי העיקר התאוה למאכל. וזהו שנאמר אצל חוה 'ותרא האשה כי טוב העץ למאכל ותאוה היא לעינים', דהיינו שבפעם אחד היה לה שני תאויות והבינה שזה דבר קדוש מאוד, לכן "ותקח.. ותאכל"

 

Peirush l'peirusho: When a person starts a project, there is always a lot of excitement.  When, or perhaps I should say if, the project is finally completed, there is also a big celebration and a lot of excitement.  These stages are excitement of ראה אילנות מלבלבים at the start of the season and the excitement of שעת גמר הפרי.  The problem is that in between those two events is a lot of work and sometimes a lot of time and a lot of effort.  That's the part we don't like. That's where we get bogged down in our lives.  All of human progress, all that we use our brains -- our daas -- to try to achieve, can be boiled down to the one goal of bridging that gap, of trying to move the starting point and the end closer together to cut out that difficult middle part.  In the old days you could enjoy starting a book or watching a movie and a few hours later have the satisfaction of completing it.  These days, TikTok reduces that gap between the start and the pleasure of finishing to seconds.  We want to click a button to start the excitement and then in no time have the שעת גמר הפרי with no time between them.  However, no matter how hard we try, there will always be a gap between the two -- tha's nature.   You cannot have true non stop excitement. 

 

Says the Noam Elilemech, the one exception that seemed to break all the rules was the eitz ha'daas.  ותרא האשה כי טוב העץ למאכל ותאוה היא לעינים means the gap was bridged. That tree was the bridge.  Through daas, we can overcome it all.

 

Except that it wasn't.  It was all just an illusion.

 

When I saw this N.E. I thought to myself that this big attraction of the eitz ha'daas כי טוב העץ למאכל ותאוה היא לעינים that combines the simcha of שעת הפריחה with the simcha of שעת גמר הפרי with no gap can actually be found somewhere else.  Chavah had the right idea, she just picked the wrong tree.  We read (Teh 34:9)

 

 טעמו וראו כי טוב ה׳ אשרי הגבר יחסה בו

It's the eitz ha'chaim that has it all:

 

כי טוב העץ למאכל = טעמו

ותאוה היא לעינים = וראו

 

Only Torah gives the true excitement and joy that Chavah was looking for.  Anu ameilim u'mekablim schar -- the gap between גמר הפרי and  שעת הפריחה is not just an obstacle to get around, but is itself part of the joy of learning.

 

Over Sukkot I mentioned the question of whether a person can say she'hechiyanu on sukkah if he forgot to say it the first time he did the mitzvah.  Some want to compare it to she'hechiyanu on a new fruit, where the din is that if you miss saying the bracha the first time, that's it -- it's not new anymore, and nothing you can do.  Shu"T l'Horos Noson says there is a chiluk.  When you talk about a new fruit, once you've seen it, once you've tasted it, the excitement is gone.  When it comes to Torah, to mitzvos, there is non stop excitement.  It doesn't matter if you've done the mitzvah 10 times already, or seen a sugya 10 times already, it's still as enjoyable as the first time.  The שעת גמר הפרי is really just another שעת הפריחה to go to the next level.  There is no beginning and there is no end.

 

When you get to the last lines and make a siyum, you feel excitement (actually, more like relief), and when you open the first page to a new masechta you feel the same way.  Admittedly, when you are struggling through a difficult sugya in the middle of the masechta, you may be a little less excited, but the excitement is there.  So while the siyum is special, it is not really the end.  We say hadran -- go back, return to the starting point.  It's the  שעת גמר הפרי, but it's also שעת הפריחה, because it is a new beginning.  It's the  טעמו וראו כי טוב ה׳ אשרי הגבר יחסה בו that bridges the gap and brings us the enjoyment we all crave and are looking for.

hashra'as haShechina in the sukkah; we cannot control the rain; the true bracha given to Zevulun and Yisachar

1) About 15 years ago I mentioned a diyuk the Meshech Chochma makes in parshat Re'ei. The Torah says to make aliya la'regel on Pesach and Shavuos to the place "asher yivchar Hashem l'shakein Shemo sham." However, when it describes the same mitvzah of aliya la'regel on Succos, it says to go to the place, "asher yivchar Hashem," but leaves out the words, "l'shakein Shemo sham." Why the difference?

Meshech Chochma answers that on Pesach and Shavuos we are judged respectively on wheat crops and fruit. The Torah adds the words, "l'shakein Shemo sham" to remind us that unlike what the other nations think, there is no power other than Hashem that can influence what will happen to the crops.  It's the Shechina in the makom mikdash that makes things happen.  However, on Sukkos, when we are judged on how much water and rainfall will occur, we don't need a similar reminder. Even the nations realize that Hashem and only Hashem controls the rain.  When we daven for geshem, we do so realizing our complete dependency upon Hashem.

When the winds are howling and the rain is coming down in buckets like during the nor'easter that happened on the first days of Sukkos, we are reminded of just how puny man's might is.  When it comes to the force of rain, man is impotent in the face of yad Hashem.

I saw a different explanation for this diyuk noted by M.C., one that is worth keeping in mind as we take advantage of the final opportunities to eat in the sukkah. On Sukkos we are zocheh to have Hashem's presence manifest in each and every one of our sukkot. A person has to make aliya to the place "asher yivchar Hashem," but if you are looking for the place where Hashem reveals himself "l'shakein shemo sham," then you wouldn't necessarily have to go to Yerushalayim. For a place of hashra'as haShechina on Sukkos you need look no further than your own backyard.

2) In our local Sefardic shul they will have a tikun all night tonight for leil Hoshana Rabbah. The day is a big day.  But there is an even bigger day.The Ben Ish Chai on Koheles comments on the pasuk

תן חלק לשבעה וגם לשמונה כי לא תדע מה יהיה רעה על הארץ (11:2)

that seven is a reference to the seventh day of Sukkot, to Hoshana Rabbah, and eight is a reference to Shmini Atzeret. The word גם is always interpreted by Chazal as a ribuy -- it adds something, it expands on what was previously said. With all due respect to Hoshana Rabbah, which really is a big day, וגם לשמונה, it's just a warm up to Shmini Atzeret, a day that has a ribuy, a day that is even bigger than the previous day . 

Chazal tell us that "yom ha'geshamim" is as great or perhaps even greater than the day of mattan Torah. The Kotznitzer Maggid writes that yom ha'geshamim is Shmini Atzeret, the day when we start saying tefilas geshem (see here.)

3) Hopefully Hashem will respond to all our tefilos and bakashos both for geshem and for all that we asked for during these Yamim Tovim, but it's worth keeping one thing in mind. The Torah tells us in the final parsha of v'Zos haBeracha that  Yissachar/Zevulun were blessed with tremendous wealth thanks to their sea trade. עַמִּים֙ הַר־יִקְרָ֔אוּ שָׁ֖ם יִזְבְּח֣וּ זִבְחֵי־צֶ֑דֶק כִּ֣י שֶׁ֤פַע יַמִּים֙ יִינָ֔קוּ וּשְׂפֻנֵ֖י טְמ֥וּנֵי חֽוֹל (33:19) Rashi offers one short comment here:

 כי שפע ימים ינקו – יששכר וזבולן, ויהא להם פנאי לעסוק בתורה. 

The first half of Rashi comes to clarify what the subject being blessed is. It is not the עַמִּים֙ הַר־יִקְרָ֔אוּ, who come to visit the Mikdash (as you might have understood), but rather it is Yisachar and Zevulun.   Rashi could have made that point with just 2 words, כי שפע ימים ינקו – יששכר וזבולן. However, Rashi continues:  ויהא להם פנאי לעסוק בתורה. Says the Sifsei Chachamin: Just promising that Zevulun will be prosperous, will be successful in business, will get riches, is not enough. מה ברכה יש בזה? That is not a very "Jewish" bracha. The real bracha is ויהא להם פנאי לעסוק בתורה. All the riches, all the success, is just a means to that end. 

Sanzer Rav - you fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah even while eating inside because of the rain

We are anticipating a nor'easter here in NY, which may mean a washout for some of the sukkah meals.  I can't find the Divrei Chaim's (Sanzer Rav) derashos online to post a link, but here is a link to the Mishnas Sachir quoting him.   Don't think, he says, that because it is raining and you have to eat inside that you've lost the mitzvah of sukkah.  The mitzvah is תשׁבו ־ כּעין תדורו. Just like you would leave your house if it was leaking inside, so too, you can leave the sukkah.  That gufa -- going inside -- is exactly how to fulfill the mizvah of sukkah in that circumstance.  B'poel you might not be in the sukkah, but you are still fulfilling what the mitzvah requires and therefore are still enveloped by its kedusha.

sukkot as a time of mechila

Rav Bakshi Doron, in his sefer on the Moadim, points out that it's clear from the Midrash Tanchuma that the message of Sukkot is not, "Whew! the Yamim Noraim are over, now let's celebrate." Aderaba, the Midrash frames Sukkot as an extension of the mechila process of Yamim Noraim:

 ביום הראשון, וכי ראשון הוא, והלא יום חמשה עשר הוא, אלא מאי ראשון, ראשון לחשבון עונות, ר' מני ור' יהושע דסכנין בשם ר' לוי משל למה הדבר דומה למדינה שהיתה חייבת ליפס למלך, והיה המלך משלח לגבותה, ולא היתה נותנת לפי שהיה השטר גודל, כך פעם ראשון, ופעם שני, והיה משלח ולא היו נותנין, מה עשה המלך, אמר לבני פלטין שלו [עמדו ונלך עליהם], עד הן הולכין כמו עשרת מילין, שמעו בני המדינה, מה עשו, התחילו גדולי המדינה לילך לאנפטי של מלך, אמר להם מי אתם, אמרו לו אנו בני מדינה פלונית ששלחת לגבותינו, אמר להם ומה אתם מבקשים, אמרו לו בבקשה ממך עשה עמנו חסד שאן לנו מה ליתן, אמר להם אני מניח לכם מחצה, עד שהוא בא יצאו (בריוני) [בינוני] המדינה וקדמוהו כמו (עשר) [חמשה] מילין, אמר להם מי אתם, אמרו לו אני בני מדינה פלונית, אמר להם ומה תבקשו, אמרו לו בבקשה ממך רחם עלינו, אמר להם כבר הנתי מחצה, ובשבילכם אני מניח מחצה על מחצה, עם שהוא [מהלך] יצאו כל בני המדינה, אמר להם ומה אתה מבקשים, אמרו לו אדונינו המלך אין לנו מה ליתן, רחם עלינו, אמר להם כבר הנחי מחצה, ומחצה על מחצה, ובשבילכם אני מניח את הכל, אלא מכאן ואילך ראש חשבון הוא,

 

Now comes the nimshal:

 

המלך זה [מלך מלכי המלכים] הקב"ה, בני המדינה שלו אלו ישראל, שהן מסגלין עונות של כל השנה כולה, מה הקב"ה עושה, אומר להם עשו תשובה בראש השנה, והם נכנעים ובאים ביום הכפורים, והם מתענין ועושין תשובה, והקב"ה מוחל להם את הכל, ובסכות כלם נוטלים את לולביהם ביום טוב ראשון ומקלסין להקב"ה והוא מתרצה להם ומוחל להם, אמר להם הרי ויתרתי לכם כל עונותיכם הראשונות, [אבל מעכשיו ראש חשבון הוא, שנאמר ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון, וראשון לחשבון עונות]. אמר להם הקב"ה בעולם הזה אמרתי לכם שתעשו סוכה לשלם לי גמולי שעשיתי לכם, שנאמר [בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים וגו'] כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל (ויקרא כג מב מג), ואני מעלה עליכם כאילו אתם גומלים לפני, ולעולם הבא אופיע עליכם במלכות, ואגן עליכם כסוכה, שנאמר וסוכה תהיה לצל יומם מחורב וגו' (ישעיה ד ו).

 

Here's what strange.  On the one hand, we are told that Hashem forgives everything on Y"K:  והם נכנעים ובאים ביום הכפורים, והם מתענין ועושין תשובה, והקב"ה מוחל להם את הכל 

 

Yet the very next line tells us that it is on Sukkot that Hashem gives mechila: ובסכות כלם נוטלים את לולביהם ביום טוב ראשון ומקלסין להקב"ה והוא מתרצה להם ומוחל להם

 

If we were forgiven on Y"K, what is the mechila of Sukkot for? 

 

R"H, aseret y'mei teshuva, Y"K, are all described in the mashal as days when the King is coming to collect his due.  Malchus is being imposed from without, willy-nilly.  The town is not exactly happy to roll out the welcome wagon, but has no choice other than to do what it must to assuage and pacify the King. 

 

(The mashal to forgiveness of a debt is interesting because the Aruch haShulchan notes 607:7 that the term mechila that we use for forgiveness actually is only found with respect to forgiveness of a debt, and is borrowed from there: ושם "מחילה" לא מצינו בתנ"ך, וגם השורש לא ידענו, רק בלשון המשנה הוא לעניין תביעת ממון, שמוחל ואינו תובע, ושייך לעון.)

 

No one wants to carry around a burden.  When that weight is lifted, there is a sense of relief. 

 

Sukkot is a different experience entirely.  It is when we willingly welcome the King and throw a parade thrown in his honor.  It's not a celebrating getting rid of a burden, but rather is a celebration of our relationship with the King as a positive, meaningful experience.  That leads to a different type of mechila.

 

opening doors

 1) One of the local business in the neighborhood that sells appetizing has the following sign on their door (apologies for the poor quality):

 

The business wants people to place orders for their break fast food ahead of time, and chastises people not to wait until the last minute to do so.  You know Y"K is coming, you know what you want to order and place the same order every year, so why wait -- call ahead of time!

 

When I walked past and saw that sign, I thought to myself that Hashem must have meant this to be put up as a message for aseret y'mei teshuvah. 

 

We all know Y"K is coming.  We do this every year.  We all know what we need to do to clear our slate.  Why wait for the last minute -- for erev Y"K, or for kol nidrei, or for the avodah of mussaf, or for neila, and for those who are real stragglers, for "Hashem hu ha'Elokim" and that last shofar blast?  Take care of things now!

 

Fortunately, Hashem will not slam the door in your face no matter when you decide to contact him, but more on that a few paragraphs from now.

 

2) In haYom Yom for 3 Tishrei the Rebbe quotes from R' Zusha of Anapoli that teshuvah can be broken down to 5 components, with each letter of the word teshuvah corresponding to a pasuk that reflects that component:

 

ת ־ תמים תהי׳ עם ה׳ אלקיך

שׁ ־ שׁויתי ה׳ לנגדי תמיד

ו ־ ואהבת לרעך כּמוךּ

ב ־ בּכל דרכך דעהו

ה ־ הצנע לכת עם אלקיך

 

R' Leibele Eiger quotes a different pasuk for that last letter.  He understood  that the letter  ה is, as Rashi explains in our parsha, as ה״י לשון תימה.  For that letter hei he quotes a pasuk from our parsha: 

 

ה לה׳ תגמלו זאת עם נבל ולא חכם

 

When a person realizes that he has frittered away his time, wasting the potential that Hashem gave him, he is filled with remorse.  He can then come to the next ה, which is at the conclusion of that pasuk, and is also a question:

 

הֲלוֹא־הוּא֙ אָבִ֣יךָ קָּנֶ֔ךָ ה֥וּא עָשְׂךָ֖ וַֽיְכֹנְנֶֽךָ

 

Hashem is our father, who provides everything for us.  How can we not want to return to Him and do what is right?  That thought takes you back to the beginning of the process, to ת ־ תמים תהי׳ עם ה׳ אלקיך.

The process is circular, drawing a person constantantly closer to Hashem.

 

3) Coming back to signs on doors and not being turned away: On leil Yom Kippur after we say the pasuk ויאמר ה׳ סלחתי כדברך, and next comes the recitation of the bracha of she'hechiyanu.  The Lev Simcha explained that the bracha is not just on the kedushas ha'yom of Y"K.  The Rambam describes a person who does teshuvah (7:6) אמש היה זה שנאוי לפני המקום משוקץ ומרוחק ותועבה. והיום הוא אהוב ונחמד קרוב וידיד.   A baal teshuvah is like a new person.  The old self is gone, and this is the new me.  When Hashem says סלחתי כדברך and accepts our teshuvah, we then say she'hechiyanu on ourselves, on our new identity.  

 

I want to suggest a different answer, also based on Gerrer torah.  We say Hashem is פּותח שׁער לדופקי בּתשׁובה.  Knock on the door, and He will let you in.  Sefas Emes asks: the Midrash tells us (Devarim Rabbah 2:12)

 

רבי חנינא בר פפא שאל לרבי שמואל בר נחמן מהו דכתיב ואני תפלתי לך ה' עת רצון אמר לו שערי תפלה פעמים פתוחים פעמים נעולים אבל שערי תשובה לעולם פתוחים

 

The door for teshuvah is always open, so why do you need to knock?

 

What's the big deal of Hashem opening the door when it's never closed anyway?

 

There are people who want to do teshuvah, but they can't even find the door.  They don't even know how to begin, where to find ruchniyus, where to find themselves.  The door is open, but they keep banging on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, trying different things, looking in different places.

 

Hashem tells such people, "Don't worry -- you can knock on the wall, you can knock on the floor, you can even knock on the ceiling.  Even if that's not the door, even if you're knocking in the wrong place -- for you, I'll make a door.  I'll be ּפּותח שׁער even if that is not the שׁער and show you a way back."

 

The Yerushalmi tells the following story about Menashe:

 

כָּתוּב וַיְדַבֵּר יְי אֶל מְנַשֶּׁה וְאֶל עַמּוֹ וְלֹא הִקְשִׁיבוּ. וַיָּבֵא עֲלֵיהֶם אֶת שָׂרֵי הַצָּבָא אֲשֶׁר לְמֶלֶךְ וַיִּלְכְּדוּ אֶת מְנַשֶּׁה בַּחֹחִים. מָהוּ בַחֹחִים. בְּכֵירוֹ מָנִיקִיָּא. אַמַר רִבִּי לֵוִי. מוּלָא שֶׁלִּנְחוֹשֶׂת עָשׂוּ לוֹ וְנָתְנוּ אוֹתוֹ בְּתוֹכָהּ וְהָיוּ מַסִּיקִין תַּחְתָּיו. כֵּיוָן שֶׁרָאָה שֶׁצָּרָתוֹ צָרָה לֹא הִנִּיחַ עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה בָעוֹלָם שֶׁלֹּא הִזְכִּירָהּ. כֵּיוָן שֶׁלֹּא הוֹעִיל לוֹ כְּלוּם אָמַר. זָכוּר אֲנִי שֶׁהָיָה אָבִי מַקְרֶא אוֹתִי אֶת הַפָּסוּק הַזֶּה בְּבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת בַּצַּר לְךָ וּמְצָאוּךָ כֹּל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים וְשַׁבְתָּ עַד יי אֱלֹהֶיךָ וְשָׁמַעְתָּ בְּקוֹלוֹ. כִּי אֵל רַחוּם יְי אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹא יַרְפְּךָ וְלֹא יַשְׁחִיתֶךָ וְלֹא יִשְׁכַּח אֶת בְּרִית אֲבוֹתֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לָהֶם. הֲרֵי אֲנִי קוֹרֵא אוֹתוֹ. אִם עוֹנֶה אוֹתִי מוּטָּב וְאִם לָאו הָא כָל אַפְּיָא שָׁוִין. וְהָיוּ מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת מְסַתְּמִין אֶת הַחַלּוֹנוֹת שֶׁלֹּא תַעֲלֶה תְפִילָּתוֹ שֶׁלִּמְנַשֶׁה לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא. וְהָיוּ מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת אוֹמְרִים לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא. רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁלְּעוֹלָם. אָדָם שֶׁעָבַד עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה וְהֶעֱמִיד צֶלֶם בַּהֵיכָל אַתָּה מְקַבְּלוֹ בִתְשׁוּבָה. אָמַר לָהֶן. אִם אֵינִי מְקַבְּלוֹ בִתְשׁוּבָה הֲרֵי אֲנִי נוֹעֵל אֶת הַדֶּלֶת בִּפְנֵי כָל בַּעֲלֵי תְשׁוּבָה. מָה עָשָׂה לוּ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא. חָתַר לוֹ חֲתִירָה מִתַּחַת כִּסֵּא הַכָּבוֹד שֶׁלּוֹ וְשָׁמַע תְּחִינָּתוֹ. הָדָא הִיא דִכְתִיב וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל אֵלָיו וַיֵּעָתֶר לוֹ וַיִּשְׁמַע תְּחִינָּתוֹ וַיְשִׁיבֵיה

 

The angels did not want to accept Menashe's teshuvah.  Maharal (San 102) explains that based on what is just, Menashe did not have a leg to stand on.  However, Hashem doesn't just operate within the lines of justice and the law on the books.  There is pure chessed as well.  Even if every door is closed, even if you have a case where a person has sinned so much that they don't even deserve the door of teshuvah to be open, Hashem says knock anyway.  Knock and I'll make you a door leading right to my kisei ha'hakavod.

(Right at the beginning of Rabeinu Yonah's Shaarei Teshuvah he gives a mashal.  A king locked some prisoners away in a jail.  They managed to tunnel their way out and escape (Shawshank Redemption), with the exception of one prisoner who chose to remain behind.  That one prisoner was singled out for punishment afterwards.  "Why would you not seize the opportunity to escape from prison?!" demanded the king.  The nimshal is our opportunity to do teshuvah and escape the jail of our sins.  If we fail to take advantage, it only adds to our guilt.  My wife always points out that the mashal of a tunnel matches this story of the tunnel Hashem himself made for Menashe.)

 

סלחתי כדברך.  I said a pshat 2 weeks ago in the name of R' Simcha haKohen Kook, but I want to suggest a different pshat.  Most people use the main door.  Some people enter some other way. Your friend may have found a different door; you may have been brought up or learned in yeshiva about some other door.  However, when all is said and done, if none of that works for you, if you can't find or enter any of those doors, then Hashem says, "You use your door.  כדברך -- wherever you want or need the door to be, I'll make sure there is one there."

 

The she'hechiyanu that we say on the night of Y"K is a she'hechiyanu on those new doors, the doors that Hashem has created and opened for each of us. 

 

May each of us find our שׁער, and may Hashem always open all the doors ands gates for us that we need opened, and may this she'hechiyanu of Y"K be followed this year by a she'hechiyanu on bi'as ha'goel.