The bear is saying, "Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the
village that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them
shout from the peaks of the mountains. Let them give glory to G-d and tell of
His praise in the islands." (Isaiah 42:11-12)
Rabbi Meir would say: Engage minimally in business, and occupy yourself
with Torah. Be humble before every man. If you neglect the Torah, there will be
many more causes for neglect before you; if you toil much in Torah, there is
much reward to give to you.
Netzach
shebeYesod (victory and endurance
within the context of foundation and firmness)
This week marks Rosh Chodesh Tammuz as well as Gimmel
Tammuz, the date of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s passing and also the beginning
of the liberation of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe. Tammuz is represented by the tribe of Reuven, Jacob’s firstborn.
The name Reuven comes from the word reiyiah, sight, and the month of Tammuz is related to the tikkun, the fixing, of our sense of
sight. Reuven is also connected to teshuvah in general. The Midrash states about Reuven that he was the first to repent out of
love, without first being chastised by Hashem.
This month is also connected to the tikkun for the sin of the spies. Moses
sent spies that journeyed throughout the Land of Israel during the entire month
of Tammuz and, except for Joshua and
Caleb, viewed the Land of Israel in a negative light.
Tammuz also is
connected to several tragedies that occurred on the 17th day of this
month. Among these tragedies is the destruction of the first tablets containing
the Ten Commandments, as well as the breach of the walls of Jerusalem. However,
Tammuz is also connected with the
final redemption. In the future, when we ultimately repent and are redeemed,
the 17th of Tammuz will no
longer be a day of fasting and mourning, but rather a day of celebration.
The transformation and teshuvah of Tammuz parallels that of Reuven. Jacob took away Reuven’s firstborn
rights after a severe mistake he made involving one of his father’s concubines.
Reuven spent his entire life doing teshuvah
for his sin. The Torah recognizes his repentance, still referring to Reuven as
the firstborn son of Jacob long after the unfortunate event took place.
On the thirty-ninth week, the Bear
sings in Perek Shirah, asking all to
raise their voice: the desert and the cities, the villages, and the wilderness
of Kedar; everyone is to chant
melodies and cry with joy: those that dwell among the rocks and on the top of
the mountains as well as those in the islands. (Isaiah 42: 11-12)
The song of the Bear alludes to the
concept of looking at the world with good eyes, in a positive light. The Bear
sees that the deserts, the cities, the villages, the mountains and the islands,
all have the great potential of praising G-d. This is how we should all see the
world – everyone has this potential. We just need to open our eyes to see it.
One of the main accomplishments of
the Rebbe, which actually began with the Previous Rebbe, was to always see
in each follower and in every Jew their enormous potential for good. That is
how the Rebbe was able to form so many leaders and inspire so many people. The
Rebbe was able to spread the light of Judaism and of Chassidism to the far
corners of the world: cities as well as spiritual deserts, mountains and
isolated islands.
Eliyahu HaNavi, who will announce the coming of Mashiach, is also associated with the Bear. As explained in week
12, the Tanach states that before
Elijah ascended to heaven, Elisha asked him for a double portion of Elijah’s
own strength.
Soon afterwards, when Elisha purified the waters of a particular city, he was
insulted by a few young men who would make their money transporting clean water
from another location. Elisha’s miracle had rendered their services useless.
The youngsters starting instigating Elisha, calling him bald, which was meant
to strike a contrast between him and Elijah, who had a head full of hair. After
the insult, Elisha cursed these youngsters, and two bears (an apparent
reference to the double portion he had received from Elijah) came out of the
wilderness and killed them.
It is interesting to note that just
as the bear’s song makes explicit references to Arabia (Kedar), the Talmud contains various stories of how Elijah would
disguise himself as an Arab when he would appear before tzadikim, either as a way to test or help them.
Thirty-nine is the number of the
types of work prohibited on Shabbat.
These prohibitions parallel the thirty-nine types of work performed in building
the Mishkan, a miniature Temple where
the Divine Presence resided. The Mishkan
represents a microcosm of the world, and just as G-d rested on the seventh day
during the creation of the world, the Jewish people rested on the same day when
they were building the Mishkan.
The Bear’s song refers to distant and
uninhabited places that have the potential of praising Hashem, thus making a home for Hashem
in this world. The Midrash Tanchumah
teaches that G-d’s primary objective in creating the world was in order to make
a home for Him in the lowly realms. That home is the Mishkan.
The letters that form the number
thirty-nine, lamed and tet, spell out the word tel, which means mountain. The laws
pertaining to Shabbat are known as
"mountains on a wire," because a vast number of prohibitions are
deduced from just a few explicit verses in the Torah.
The Pirkei Avot of this week is expressed in the teachings of Rabbi
Meir. The Talmud states that whoever saw
Rabbi Meir studying, witnessed how he would take mountains and grind them into
each other. He was also known for miracles, many of which involved Eliyahu HaNavi.
Rabbi Meir also represents the idea
of teshuvah, return to G-d, and seeing the potential in people and in faraway places. He was
himself a descendant of Roman converts. When a certain group of people
mistreated and insulted him, he followed the advice of his wife Beruria, and
instead of praying for their destruction, prayed that they do teshuvah, which they ultimately did.
Rabbi Meir states that we should
minimize our commercial activities in order to focus ourselves in Torah study.
He advises us to be humble towards everyone. Furthermore, he teaches that if we
waste Torah study time, we will find many obstacles against us, but if we toil
greatly in its study, we will find abundant reward. Rabbi Meir’s words are also
connected to Tammuz, Reuven and the
process of teshuvah, demanding that we
humbly transform any lack of dedication to the Torah (which caused such
obstacles and tragedies for our people), into full dedication and toil, leading
ultimately to enormous reward.
This week, the combination of sefirot results in netzach shebeyesod. We must be persistent and determined to
maintain our foundation in Torah and mitzvot.
We know that Joseph, who represents the sefirah
of yesod, had to endure Potiphar’s
wife’s constant attempts to seduce him, and yet Joseph was ultimately
successful in resisting her. Rashi
compares Potiphar's wife to a bear. There will always be bears trying to
distract us from our central purpose. We must stand firm and strong like a
bear, and not lose sight of our goal.
This week, we learn from the bear
that wherever we find ourselves, we must attempt to speak of the Torah and
elevate the place we are in as much as possible.
