Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi, Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance Counselor – ASHAR
Principal – Ohr Naftoli- New Windsor
STAM
TORAH
YOM
KIPPUR 5776
“TRUE DESIRE”
INMATE SUES HIMSELF FOR $5 MILLION
Associated Press
Published: Sunday, April 9, 1995 12:00 a.m. MDT
An inmate who claimed he
violated his own civil rights by getting arrested filed a $5 million lawsuit
against himself - then asked the state to pay because he has no income in jail.
Robert Lee Brock, a prisoner
at the Indian Creek
Correctional Center
in Chesapeake
"I want to pay myself 5
million dollars," he continued, "but ask the state to pay it in my
behalf since I can't work and am a ward of the state."
Judge Rebecca Beach Smith
was unimpressed by Brock's ingenuity.
She dismissed the lawsuit
Thursday as frivolous.
"Plaintiff has
presented an innovative approach to civil rights litigation," Smith wrote.
"However, his claim and especially the relief sought, are totally
ludicrous."
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing
Company | All rights reserved
The
Chachmei Hakabbalah[1]
explain that man has two levels of consciousness, hisרצון העליון (‘upper will) and his רצון התחתון (‘lower will).
Although there are deeper, more mystical understandings of this concept, we will
analyze them from a psychological perspective[2]:
The
רצון
התחתון represents
man’s pragmatic logic. It is the aspect of a person’s thoughts that are only
interested in survival and gratification, and views the world from a very
practical perspective.
Theרצון העליון however, represents man’s cognitive,
decision-making abilities. One’s ‘upper will’ seeks spirituality and a higher focus
and is not limited by utilitarian and momentary concerns. It is more interested
in right and wrong than it is on what is comfortable or convenient. One’s
‘upper will’ may decide to act in a way contrary to his pragmatic
interests if it feels that delaying
gratification or suffering physically may yield spiritual growth.
A
person is often unaware of the decisions of his ‘upper will’, because he is
more in touch with his physical body. He inclines himself to his utilitarian
‘lower will’ which seeks gratification before he seeks the spiritual demands of
his ‘upper will’.[3]
In
the Shemoneh Esrei prayers we beseech G-d, “Us’filasam sikabel b’ratzon
– And their prayers accept with favor.” We do not simply request that
G-d accept all our prayers, but that He does so with favor. We often pray for
things which we are confident are necessary and beneficial for us. However, only
G-d can know if granting those requests will ultimately be detrimental on a
physical, spiritual, or psychological level. Our ‘lower will’ may be praying
for something which may be financially rewarding, but can be spiritually devastating.
Therefore, we pray that G-d accept our prayers with favor, for only He can
truly know which of our prayers He should fulfill[4].
The Rambam[5] rules that if a man refuses to offer his
wife a divorce document the court must physically compel him until he agrees to
give it.[6] The Rambam explains that the rationale for
coercing someone to comply with Torah law is that, although the sinner’s ‘lower
will’ is unwilling to comply with the Torah law, his ‘upper will’ wants to do
what’s right. Unfortunately, the sinner himself is not in touch with his true
desires and thinks that he wants to be recalcitrant. However, when we literally
‘beat it out of him’ his ‘upper will’ emerges and he himself realizes that this
is truly what he wants.
This is analogous to an
addict who emphatically demands that his addiction be nurtured. His true inner
desire is to rid himself of the addiction which is dominating his life and
destroying him. But because he is so enmeshed in the addiction and so badly
craves the momentary gratification, he is unable to realize what he truly
wants.
Another example where this
concept emerges is in regards to the annulment of vows. A Jewish court has the
right to annul a vow which was assumed voluntarily, if the court has legitimate
grounds on which to absolve it. The rationale is that we assume that although
the person’s ‘lower will’ accepted the vow, his ‘upper will’ never agreed to
accept the vow. Torah law recognizes that, in respect to vows, the human
personality also takes into account one’s ‘upper will’. It is based on that
assumption, that the court can (at times) annul a vow.
With this idea in mind, we
can understand why the holy day of Yom Kippur commences with the recitation of
‘Kol Nidrei’, a prayer which is nothing more than the annulment of vows. A vow
is susceptible to rescission because it was not representative of the person’s
true inner self, in that his ‘upper will’ was not in agreement with the vow. So
too, on Yom Kippur (and whenever one seeks repentance), G-d acknowledges that
whenever a mortal sins it is because he has acceded to his base ‘lower will’,
and ignored his own higher calling, i.e. his ‘upper will’. The process of
repentance entails our connecting ourselves with our ‘upper will’ which was
never involved or tainted by sin.
This is why immediately after
Kol Nidrei we read the verse in which G-d says[7],
“ונסלח
לכל עדת בני ישראל... כי לכל העם בשגגה - I will
forgive the entire assembly of the Children of Israel
At the commencement of each
of the seven hakafos celebrated and danced on Simchas Torah, a prayer is
recited beseeching G-d for salvation. The prayer for the fourth hakafah states,
“יודע
מחשבות הושיעה נא - He Who knows our thoughts, please save us.”
One year, someone asked me why
we refer to G-d as the One, “Who knows our thoughts”? If anything, it would
seem that we would want to stay far away from mentioning our thoughts. Do our
fantasies, daydreams, and reveries make us worthy of salvation?
I replied that we are not
referring to the superficial fleeting thoughts which dominate our minds much of
the time. Rather, we are referring to our innermost thoughts, the lofty thoughts
which stem from the deepest recesses of our souls, and which we often forget
that we feel, the thoughts of our ‘upper will’. It is those thoughts that render us
perpetually worthy of salvation.
One of the core beliefs and
responsibilities of every Jew is to serve G-d with mesiras nefesh
(giving over his “nefesh”). This concept is generally understood to refer to
giving up one’s life for the sanctification of G-d’s Name. It is associated
with mental images of martyrs marching to their deaths, their heads aloft, as
they proclaimed “Shema Yisroel” in their final heroic moments. We think of
those who were persecuted with gas chambers, inquisitions, pogroms, crusades,
and marauding Cossacks.
Therefore, we believe that
those of us who are blessed to live in a democracy and are not persecuted for
Torah observance do not have the opportunity to fulfill this fundamental
responsibility. But that is a fallacy.
The word nefesh refers to
one’s desires. When the children of Efron negotiated with Avrohom Avinu about
the sale of the Cave
of Machpelah
The greatest level of mesiras
nefesh is giving up one’s life, because our ultimate desire is to live.
However, any time one suppresses or overcomes a desire or a craving for the
sake of G-d’s Name, he has been moser nesfeh – i.e. he has given up some of his
nefesh. Therefore, we indeed have the opportunity to be moser nefesh
constantly. Every time we challenge our base desires and overcome our whims we
have demonstrated mastery over our animalistic self. One who averts his senses,
alters his behaviors, or invests added resources and efforts into his spiritual
pursuits, allows his upper will to dominate his lower will.
On Yom Kippur we completely
absolve ourselves from many of our most basic physical comforts and needs. On
that one day a year we go to the extreme, giving ourselves a momentary hiatus
from the dominance of our lower will. In the waning moments of Neilah as the
sun begins to set and our physical strength is almost completely sapped, we
continue in our service unabated, with almost superhuman drive. At that point
our upper will has complete reign and, for a few moments, we connect with our
true selves.
Shortly thereafter, the day
and all of its arduous service and august opulence concludes. Within a few
hours life resumes its course and we are again busy with life[9].
If only we were able to
capture a small measure of the deep emotions we feel in those waning majestic
moments of Yom Kippur! What a different live we would live!
Throughout the rest of the
year we must maintain a taste of the beauty of living a life dominated by one’s
upper will. This will ensure that even when we stumble, we will remember that
within us is a divine spark that we can always reconnect with.
“He Who knows our thoughts,
please save us”
“I will forgive because their
sins were inadvertent”
[1] Scholars of
kabbalah, the esoteric portions of the Torah
[2] The
explanation of ‘upper will’ and ‘lower will’ and its connection to the Rambam
(hil. Gittin) and to the concept of annulling vows, was adapted from a lecture
by Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt’l,
(Nora’os Harav, volume 16), in an essay entitled “Teshuva and Bechira”.
The concept of ‘upper will’ and ‘lower will’ is found in the writings of the
Ba’al Hatanya, Rabbi Shemur Zalman of Liadi.
[3] When boys
in yeshiva put on tefilin for the first time shortly prior to their bar mitzvah
they often celebrate by bringing in donuts for their entire class. When I am
asked if I want a donut I often reply that I do and I don’t, and I will
decline. I spare them the speech that my ratzon tachton definitely wants to
indlulge, while my ratzon elyon is trying to convince me to desist.
[4] As the
saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for; you might just get it.”
[5] Hilchos
gayrushin 2:20
[6] “They beat him until he says ‘I want’”.
This is done despite
the fact that a divorce document given out of coercion is invalid.
[7] Bamidbar
15:26
[8] Bereishis
23:8
[9] hopefully
with the needs of the upcoming holiday of Succos
0 comments:
Post a Comment