Parashat Mishpatim: "And They Beheld God, and Did Eat and Drink"
CHASSIDUT
by Rav Itamar Eldar
Yeshivat Har Etzion
ParAshat
Mishpatim
"And
They beheld GOd, and did eat and drink"
Our parasha concludes with the wondrous event involving the
covenant of the basins. God enters into a covenant with the people of Israel
with respect to all of the laws and judgments, and following the covenant
ceremony, Moshe is commanded to take Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, together with
seventy of the elders of Israel, ascend the mountain, and bow down from afar. In
the course of this ascent, the entire company, referred to as "the nobles of the
children of Israel," merit to see a unique and exciting
vision:
Then Moshe went up, and
Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they saw the
God of Israel, and there was under his feet a kind of paved work of sapphire
stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness. And upon the nobles of the
children of Israel he laid not His hand: and they beheld God, and did eat and
drink. (Shemot 24:9-11)
The closing words of this passage, "And they beheld God, and did eat and
drink," require explanation, no less than the vision itself. On the one hand,
"And they beheld God," is a difficult expression in and of itself, for surely,
"no man shall see Me and live." On the other hand, along with this vision, we
are told: "And they did eat and drink." How could they eat and drink while
beholding God?
According to one
approach found in Chazal, the verse's formulation comes to express
condemnation of the band of nobles:
"And they beheld God."
As a man looks upon his neighbour while in the act of eating and drinking. R.
Yochanan said: They derived actual nourishment; as is proved by the citation:
"In the light of the king's countenance is life" (Mishlei 16:15). R.
Tanchuma said: The text teaches us that they uncovered their heads, became
presumptuous and fed their eyes on the Shekhina. (Vayikra Rabba 20, 10)
R. Tanchuma sees in this
expression a description of "presumptuousness," looking upon one's neighbor
while in the act of eating.
Onkelos in his Targum
understands these words in an entirely different manner:
And they rejoiced in the
sacrifices that were accepted with favor, as if they were eating and drinking.
(Onkelos, Shemot 24:11)
First of all, we are
dealing here with joy connected to a mitzva, and second, we are dealing
here not with actual eating and drinking, but rather with a metaphor: "as if
they were eating and drinking."
The Ramban goes one step further. He understands that in fact we are
dealing here with actual eating and drinking, but no condemnation of the nobles
of the children of Israel is intended:
The meaning of the
expression "and they drank," is that they made it an occasion for rejoicing and
festival, for such is one's duty to rejoice at the receiving of the Torah, just
as He commanded when they finished writing all the words of the Torah upon the
stones: "And you shall sacrifice peace-offerings, and shall eat there; and you
shall rejoice before the Lord your God" (Devarim 27:7). And with
reference to Shelomo it is written: "Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto you,"
(II Divrei ha-Yamim 1:12) and
immediately after that, He came to Jerusalem, and made a feast for all the
servants (I Melakhim 3:15). "Rabbi Elazar said: From here you
learn that we make a feast at the finishing of the Torah." With reference to
David, Shelomo's father, it is likewise said that when the people gave of their
free-will towards the building of the Sancturay: "And they offered sacrifices
unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord, etc. and they did eat
and drink before the Lord on that day with great gladness" (I Divrei ha-Yamim
29:21-22). Similarly, here
too on the day of the "wedding" of
the Torah, they did likewise. (Ramban, Shemot 24:11)
According to the Ramban, we are dealing here with eating and drinking
that constitutes a religious act, an expression of gratitude for having received
the Torah and for the great vision which the nobles of Israel had merited to
see.
R. Tanchuma sees eating and drinking as the antithesis of beholding the
face of God. The Ramban, in contrast, sees eating and drinking as a consequence
of seeing the Divine countenance. We shall bring below the various approaches to
this issue in the world of Chassidut.
DENYING THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE PLEASURE OF EATING
This question brings us to a very important discussion regarding the
material pleasures of this world. Thus writes R. Ya'akov Yosef of
Polonneye:
What follows from this
is that if a person wishes to enjoy pleasure for the sake of His name in order
to cleave to Him, blessed be He, and the sadness of matter hinders him, and he
must gladden it through eating and drinking, but he has no money, and he must
borrow, and he does not want to accept a gift, as it is written: "He that hates
gifts shall live" (Mishlei 15:27) about him the Holy One, blessed be
He, says: "Borrow for me, and I will pay back," which is not the case when this
is not so. With this, one can understand: "And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel he laid not His hand." As I have written above: "He will guide us in
youth" (Tehilim 48:15). For the Holy One, blessed be He, sends out His
hand to take hold of a person in order to guide Him that he should walk in the
paths of God, blessed be He, and in His service. This is at the beginning, in
the days of his adolescence and youth, but afterwards he lets go so that he may
proceed on his own. But for the nobles of the children of Israel who were very
important already in their youth, it was not necessary that He send out His
hand. On their own they fortified themselves in cleaving to God, blessed be He,
until they reached this level, "And they beheld God." They were also not
hindered by the sadness of matter, for they ate and they drank to gladden their
matter, as explained above, "Borrow for me, and I will pay back." As the Ramban
writes that this eating and drinking was connected to a mitzva, for the
joy over the Torah that they had received, etc.; see there. (Toledot Ya'akov Yosef,
Mishpatim 13)
With these words, the Toledot Ya'kaov Yosef explains why the
nobles of Israel ate when they beheld the great vision, and based on that he
formulates what he regards as the proper approach toward material pleasures. We
can explain what he says by way of another chassidic dictum that states that
sometimes "one must bribe the body," so that it should not disturb the
spirit.[1] The "sadness of matter" is what prevents the soul from rising, and so
the pleasure of eating and drinking gladden matter and thus remove the hindrance
that it imposes. The eating of the nobles of the children of Israel was intended
to remove the material obstacle so that the spirit should be able to cleave to
the noble vision that they were seeing. In this sense, their eating was "eating
that is connected to a mitzva," as stated by the
Ramban.
This approach is
reminiscent of that of the Rambam, for he too sees eating and drinking as a
means to the service of God, as he writes:
Chapter Five: It is
imperative for every man to make all his mental faculties serve his reason and
to keep at all times one aim before him: to come as close to God as his limited
human knowledge of God permits. All a man's actions, his movements and his rest,
as well as all his speech must be geared toward that end. Finally, not even one
vain movement should occur, i.e.
not one movement that does not lead to this one end. As an illustration, the
intention in eating or drinking, in marital relations, in sleeping and in
waking, in moving and in resting, must always be the health of his body for the
purpose of providing the soul with the perfect and healthy instrument to acquire
knowledge and moral and intellectual virtues. Thus this aim will be attained.
(Shemona Perakim, chap. 5)
The difference regarding this point between the Rambam and R. Ya'akov
Yosef of Polonneye is that according to the Rambam we are dealing with a
technical means on the physical plain that is meant to turn the body into an
instrument fit to serve the spirit, whereas according to R. Ya'akov Yosef the
act of eating relates more to the spiritual plain, and the feeling arising from
and influenced by the material world. For this reason, R. Ya'akov Yosef's
primary emphasis is upon the pleasure, whereas the Rambam stresses "health and
perfection." R. Ya'akov Yosef deals with removing the spiritual obstacle created
by the body, whereas the Rambam deals with the physical obstacle. Both, however,
describe eating as a means, as a way to remove an obstacle in order to allow for
the service of God.
Both the Rambam and R. Ya'akov Yosef agree that eating in and of itself
is void of value, and that its entire legitimacy stems from its being a "meal
connected to a mitzva," that is to say, a means to a spiritual value.
Were it possible, for a person to remain in good health by taking a pill every
morning, according to the Rambam, or would he able to remove the sadness of his
matter without the pleasure of eating and drinking, according to R. Ya'akov
Yosef - the eating and its pleasure would be entirely void of meaning and it
would be possible to give them up.
A much more far-reaching position, that not only wipes out the
independent value of eating and drinking, but also tries to ignore it, finds
expression in the following passage:
Even though the
world-to-come has no eating or drinking, people will achieve satiety and good
health through the vision of God, like a person who eats and drinks, as the
verse states: "And they beheld God, and did eat and drink." And Chazal
have explained (Berakhot 17a; see Rashi ad loc.) that through the
vision of God they derived pleasure and felt in good health and satiated, like a
person who eats and drinks. We have explained this [idea] in our work,
Sidduro shel Shabbat (root 8, branch 3) (see inside. With this everything
has been properly explained, with the help of God, blessed be He. (Be'er
Mayyim Chayyim, Bereishit 2).
R. Chayyim of Czernowitz, disciple of R. Yechiel Michel of Zolochev,
absolutely rejects the possibility that the nobles of the children of Israel
were occupied in physical eating and drinking. He argues that eating and
drinking is a metaphor that comes to describe satiety from the Godly
vision.
R. Tzadok ha-Kohen of Lublin expresses the same
idea:
Like food that sustains
the body, and through which a person gains strength and vigor, and without which
he becomes weak, so too is the apprehension of the glory [of God], blessed be
He, for the soul, as it is written: "And they beheld God, and did eat and
drink." For this was eating and drinking for their soul. (Peri Tzedek,[2]
Ma'amar Kedushat ha-Shabbat, 7)
The words of R. Tzadok sharpen the novelty in the words of R. Chayyim of
Czernowitz. According to R. Tzadok, just as there is eating and drinking of the
body, so too there is eating and drinking of the soul. The whole purpose of the
verse is to inform us that on that sublime occasion the nobles of the children
of Israel merited the eating and drinking of the soul. In contrast, R. Chayyim
of Czernowitz does not speak of the satiety of the soul, but rather of the
satiety and good health that may be felt through the vision of God, having the
aspect of the world-to-come. According to R. Chayyim of Czernowitz, one who
cleaves to God does not require material sustenance, for the cleaving itself
provides him with good health and satiety, even in the physical sense. R. Tzadok
speaks about satiety of the soul resulting from cleaving to God, whereas R.
Chayyim, if we are precise in our reading of him, describes satiety of the
body.
R. Chayyim of Czernowitz's approach is similar to the approach of those
cited earlier in this lecture, who do not attach independent value to eating.
While according to the others physical eating is nevertheless a necessity,
according to R. Chayyim, one who cleaves to God can free himself, at least in
part, from this need. The nobles of the children of Israel, who ate and drank as
they beheld the vision of God, had reached this level, and thus were not in need
of material food and drink.
INDENDENT VALUE GIVEN TO THE PLEASURE OF EATING
In contrast to the aforementioned approaches that absolutely or at least
partially deny the independent value of the pleasure of eating, whether because
it is a physical means, as argued by the Rambam, or a spiritual means, as
contended by R. Ya'akov Yosef, or as a necessity from which one who cleaves to
God can free himself in full or in part, as proposed by R. Chayyim of Czernowitz
in contrast to all these approaches, there are attitudes that give legitimacy
and independence to the pleasure of eating, in part or in full. We shall try to
present these approaches one by one, starting with the words of R. Menachem
Mendel of Vitebsk:
R. Recanati concludes:
Know that the purpose of eating is not to consume the thing that is eaten, but
to add strength, delight and life to the eater. This is called eating, the
delight being the essence of the eating. They too had gladness of the soul and
delight in the splendor of the Shekhina, as it is stated (Yeshaya
58:14): "Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord." These are the words of R.
Recanati, of blessed memory. Like this must be all matters of the body and uses
of this world. For man must only derive pleasure from the inner essence, the
form, and root of the thing and its existence, from which the matter emanates
and issues forth. He is, however, forbidden to derive pleasure from the matter
of the place from which it issued. But only to cleave to the form through its
emanation, to the Infinite, blessed be he, to be aroused to Him, blessed be He,
through the delight that he receives from that thing. (Peri ha-Aretz, [3]
Vayigash)
R. Menachem Mendel of
Vitebsk follows in the path of R. Recanati on a very thin rope, for on the one
hand, he denies the pleasure of matter, for "like this must be all matters of
the body and uses of this world. For man must only derive pleasure from the
inner essence, the form, and root of the thing and its existence." On the other
hand, he asserts that the way to cleave to the form and be aroused to God is
through the pleasure that he receives from the thing.
The way to do this according to the Peri ha-Aretz is by cleaving
to the root of the thing.[4] In order to be able to cleave to the root of
something, one must first and foremost be able to recognize it and its
uniqueness.
The author of the Peri ha-Aretz mentions two concepts, form and
matter, the source of which is Aristotle.
Put differently, it may be said that form is the essence of a thing, and
matter is its garment, emanating from it. Thus, the only way to reach the
essence and the root is through the garment, that is, through the matter.
Pleasure need not be summed up by or stop at matter, but it must pass through
it, because only pleasure can open a window to a thing's essence. Eating in
particular and all matters of this world in general constitute a window to the
essences and forms found in the root of the world. Anyone who wishes to cleave
to them must pass through the material world and recognize its various
distinctions.
The ideas cited in the name of R. Simcha Bunim of Przysucha sharpen the
matter further:
In the name of our holy
Rabbi, my father Rabbi Bunim of Przysucha, of blessed memory: The main purpose
of eating is chewing well. This seems to mean that a person should grind [his
food] well before swallowing, when he reaches the primary pleasure of eating, in
order to clarify the root of the taste which issues forth from the mouth of God.
This is as it is stated regarding the giving of the Torah: "And they beheld God,
and did eat and drink," and Onkelos translates: "And they rejoiced
as if they
were eating and drinking." For it is true that it is precisely from the pleasure
of eating that one can clarify Divine revelation. About this it was stated: "And
they beheld," for it is like a mirror, in which a person sees a reflection of
himself. The same is true regarding the pleasure of eating, taking from it a
reflection of what is above, the root of the taste. As is known from the holy
Zohar on the verse, "From my flesh I see God." From my flesh, literally, which
is the ultimate pleasure of this world. And precisely from it can one reach a
vision of God. [Torat Emet Lublin, 2nd day of Shavu'ot
1873]. (Kol Mevaser, pt. 3, Eating and Tasting
Foods)
R. Simcha Bunim's daring and astonishing assertion is already apparent in
the first line: "The main purpose of eating is chewing
well"!
According to R. Simcha, the most important and most sanctified moment
with respect to eating is the time of chewing that comes BEFORE swallowing.
Thus, R. Simcha moves the focus from the nutrition to the pleasure.[5] Let us
try to understand what he is saying.
At the beginning of the passage, R. Simcha follows R. Menachem Mendel of
Vitebsk in search for the spiritual root of the taste. Here, too, the emphasis
is upon the contemplative process. Thus, he says that that focusing on the
chewing is meant to clarify the taste of the food, so that we will be able to
elevate it to its root.
The difference between
one taste and another is the difference between one essence and another, between
one root and another. Bitterness is a garment and emanation of Divine governance
that dresses in a bitter taste. And similarly regarding sweetness. In Chassidic
terms we might say that we are dealing with raising sparks from the eating. From
this perspective, eating becomes sanctified not only because it is a means to
human survival, but also because it is a goal in and of itself, having its own
independent meaning. Thus writes Rav Kook, ztz"l:
What simple appetite for
eating does for all animals, and for ordinary people, drawing a person to eat in
order to fortify his life and powers, is done in a noble and elevated manner for
those great in intellect, the righteous foundations of the world, by the desire
to join with all the holy sparks concealed within the food, which arouse
spiritual joy in the person who eats of it, to receive them in his soul, to add
light and eternal happiness, and they themselves grow in strength and joy even
before eating. During the time of eating the joy already shines in the depths,
and through the eating itself, it rises to a more elevated level. "And Boaz ate
and drank, and his heart was merry" (Rut 3:7), his heart was merry
through the words of Torah, which are eating and drinking themselves [6] for
those who have entered into the council of God. (Orot ha-Kodesh,
III, p. 292)
Rav Kook distinguishes
between eating in order to live which is merely a means, and eating that has its
own essence, elevating the sparks that are concealed in the food that is
eaten.
In the continuation, in
a different passage,[7] Rav Kook explains that the eating of the righteous
repairs the sin of the earth which issued forth trees the taste of which is not
the same as the taste of its fruit.[8] Eating merely as a means is an expression
of the defective situation in which the taste of the tree is not the same as the
taste of the fruit. Thus the means does not have a taste, and it is subordinate
to the objective. The same applies to eating solely for the sake of one's
health, which tries to deny the legitimacy of "the taste" of food. However, with
the eating of the righteous that gives independent value to the taste of food,
the taste of the tree is once again like the taste of the fruit, the means
assumes significance, and thus the sparks concealed therein are
redeemed.
Eating solely as a
means, without focusing on the taste, asserts Rav Kook, is the readiness to
become reconciled with the fact that the taste of the tree, that is, the means,
is not the same as the taste of the fruit, that is, it has no independent
importance. Therefore, eating that assigns independent value to the taste itself
and to the pleasure derived therefrom once again sanctifies the "tree" and the
means and provides it once again with its taste, and thus there is redemption
for the world and for the sparks concealed within it.
At the end of the
passage, Rav Kook speaks of joy, and this brings us back to the second half of
the passage from R. Simcha Bunim that relates to the delight caused by taste.
Here already the great amount of chewing comes not only to sharpen the taste and
clarify it in order to elevate it to its root, but also to create delight. The
taste and delight are "a reflection," in the words of R. Simcha, of the delight
in holiness. Here already we are dealing with a less rational process that does
not require excessive contemplation regarding the taste of the food, but merely
delight in it. Delight, asserts R. Simcha - and Rav Kook also expresses a
similar idea - elevates a person's soul and fashions within him a climate that
is fit for taking delight in the word of God.
We spread honey over the
letters of the Torah and allow a three-year old child to lick them and taste
that the words of the Torah are as sweet as honey. Thus, we try to create a
connection between the taste of sweetness and the accompanying delight, on the
one hand, and the Torah in which delight should be taken, on the other. Here
already we are raising to its root not the taste in the food, but the delight
caused a person, or in the words of the Peri ha-Aretz: "Know that the
purpose of eating is not to consume the thing that is eaten, but to add
strength, delight and life to the eater."
The focus here is not
upon the food but upon the person eating it and upon the delight that elevates
his soul to the root of the delight delight in the word of God, as R. Simcha
Bunim said: "From the pleasure of eating one can clarify Divine revelation."
Eating leads to communion with God.[9]
The action here is not
rational, and it provides full legitimacy to the pleasure and delight
themselves, which create for the fitting and able person the mirror through
which delight in God is reflected. Material pleasure is a metaphor for spiritual
delight, and through the former one may reach the
latter.[10]
We opened this lecture
with the Toledot Ya'akov Yosef, who sees pleasure as a means to "quiet
the body," so that it not interfere with communion, and we conclude with R.
Simcha Bunim who sees pleasure as a means, not to quiet the body, but to create
the highest spiritual experience that man can attain, the experience of delight,
which is the aspect of the world-to-come. When a person is worthy and he has the
emotional and spiritual strength to elevate this experience of delight to its
root, then the pleasant taste of the food turns into the sweetness of God that a
person merits to see. At that very moment all the sparks within the food and
within the person gather together and are elevated with it to the place of the
nobles of the children of Israel, close to the top of the mountain, where the
awesome contradiction and radical paradox exist in perfect harmony: "And they
beheld God, and did eat and drink." O that we should so
merit!
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Besht is
reported to have expressed a similar idea in a different context by way of a
parable: It once happened that a certain Jew lived in a town, the rest of whose
inhabitants were non-Jews. One day he received wonderful news from his son.
Wishing to celebrate, but having nobody to celebrate with, he went to the local
tavern, where he announced that all the drinks that night were on him. The
non-Jewish drunks jumped at the opportunity, ordered another round of drinks and
broke out in a wild dance. The Jew joined them in their dancing, and, concludes
the Besht, while all the other drunks danced because of the wine, he danced
because of his good news.
There are times,
contends the Besht, that we too must gladden the body in ways appropriate to it,
so that it not disturb the soul, and even join with it in its spiritual joy.
[2] R. Tzadok ha-Kohen
Rabinowitz of Lublin (1823-1900), disciple of the Admor of Izbica, authored many
books.
[3] R. Menachem Mendel
of Vitebsk (1710-1788), who in his youth knew the Besht, was brought by R.
Aharon the Elder of Karlin to the Maggid and became one of his most
important disciples.
[4] We related to the
idea of "raising something to its source" with respect to alien thoughts (in our
lecture on Parashat Shemot). We shall try to apply what we said there to
the present discussion.
[5] I heard about a
certain philosopher who pointed out the absurdity of the great attempts made to
improve the taste of food. He noted the fact that a long time passes from the
moment that food enters a person's mouth until it is digested. The food come
into contact with the taste buds for only a few short seconds, but for these few
seconds of pleasure the world invests a great deal of time and money. This
argument diminishes the value of a food's taste, and emphasizes its nutritional
and health-related benefits. Without a doubt, the Rambam would have affirmed
this approach, but this is not true about R. Simcha Bunim who focuses on the few
seconds that relate to the food's taste, and even tries to drag them out to the
extent possible through thorough chewing.
[6] Earlier, we saw the
tendency to turn "And they did eat and drink" into an abstract spiritual idea.
Here is just the opposite turning "his heart was merry through the words of
Torah" into a material idea relating to eating: "they are eating and drinking
themselves."
[7] Ibid. p.
294.
[8] See also Orot
ha-Teshuva 6, 7; Orot ha-Kodesh III, pp.
140-141.
[9] R. Efrayim of
Sudylkow says as follows: "'And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he
laid not His hand: and they beheld God, and did eat and drink.' As the Or
ha-Chayyim writes on (Shemot 33:23): 'And I will take away My hand'
and then 'you shall see.' That is, placing of the hand is covering, concealment
and prevention of apprehension, whereas removal of the hand is followed by 'and
you shall see,' that he will be able to apprehend. And it is known (Mishlei
3:6): 'In all your ways know Him,' that is, a person should cleave and
connect himself to the Holy One, blessed be He, in everything that he does. And
this it may be proposed is the meaning of: 'And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel' those who are worthy of elevation. 'He laid not His hand' that is,
the aspect of preventing apprehension by way of placing a hand. For 'they beheld
God, and did eat and drink,' that is, they clung to the Holy One, blessed be he,
so that even during eating and drinking they would see God. Therefore, there was
no curtain separating between them that would prevent their apprehension.
Understand this" (Degel Machane Efrayim,
Mishpatim).
[10] R. Efrayim does not
explain how the nobles of the children of Israel merited to see God even while
eating and drinking. Two completely contradictory explanations may be offered:
He may be expressing the position of the Peri ha-Aretz, that it was
through the eating that they merited to cleave to God. Or he may be saying the
exact opposite. The nobles of the children of Israel ate because they had to
eat, but they were totally unaware of their eating because they clung to God the
entire time. This understanding is similar to the other approaches that deny the
spiritual value of eating; it asserts that while a person cleaves to God, he is
totally unaware of the physical actions in which he is engaged. This contradicts
the position of R. Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and R. Simcha Bunim. For while
they try to focus man on the taste of the food, in order to elevate him, R.
Efrayim of Sudylkow, according to this interpretation, nullifies the value of
tasting food, and even argues that one who is in an elevated state does not
experience the taste at all.
(Translated by David
Strauss)
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