Among the laws covered in this Torah portion is that of purifying utensils captured from idolaters. Pans, skewers and other items that were used to cook over a fire are purified by putting them again through fire in order to be used in the holy Israelite camp. The Zohar likens fasting, prayer and even Torah learning to this purification process.
When the Temple stood, a person would bring his sacrifice and it would atone for him. Nowadays, a person's prayer atones on his behalf in place of the sacrifice; the enthusiasm of the prayer is like fire of the altar that, by using his own energy, is sacrificing his blood and fat to G-d. A person also sacrifices his own fat and blood when he fasts to attain forgiveness for his wrongdoings and this atones for him.
If a person fires himself up physically to learn Torah or perform a mitzvah with enthusiasm, then he is also purified in the process from his sins as though he brought a sacrifice in the Temple.
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The Holy Ari
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Vapors and Vows |
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By Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (from the Writings of the Ari as recorded by Rabbi Chaim Vital); translated and edited by Moshe Yakov Wisnefsky
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This Torah reading portion opens with a description of the methods by which certain types of oaths and vows may be annulled. Oaths occur in Nukva (the female aspect) of Zeir Anpin (the male aspect) and vows in the supernal Imma, i.e. bina; in principle both occur in Nukva of Zeir Anpin.
The feminine aspect of the psyche is the drive within us to actualize G-d's purpose in Creation, making reality into His home. However, this drive must be coupled with an equal drive to escape the mundane reality of this world in favor of the abstract reality of spirituality; this is the male drive within us. The coupling is necessary because left to itself, the drive to make separate reality into G-d's home would have us penetrate further and further into the darkness of materiality, endangering us to becoming sucked into it as the memory of divine experience fades.
Therefore, "vows ensure asceticism"; it behooves us all to set boundaries for ourselves as we prepare to venture into the world of materiality in order to conquer it for G-d's purposes.
Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Separate [mobilize] from amongst you men...and they will be against Midian."
According to the Midrash, these men were all righteous. Moses had to mobilize the kind of soldiers who had not indulged in sinful thoughts of illicit sex. He therefore advised each man of military age to examine his conscience if he was morally fit to take part in such a punitive expedition of the morally superior against the morally inferior. Only those who knew that they could qualify under this heading would be considered for the contingent of 1,000 per tribe.
When a person thinks about performing a mitzvah, he has no fear of the accusation of the kelipot, for they have no attachment to thought. However, when he verbalizes his intention to do a mitzvah, then there are spiritual Accusing Forces to hinder him, for the kelipot draw sustenance from the place of speech.
Therefore, our Sages enjoined him to say: "For the sake of the union of the Holy One and His
Shechina, in fear and in love, in love and in fear, to unite the name Yud-Hei and Vav-Hei by means of He who is hidden and concealed in the name of all Israel." Then, he has created the Unification of the mitzvah on the level of speech, voice and thought, up until above, to He who is hidden and concealed.
This is what the Midrash said: "Better not to make a vow, than to make a vow and not complete it" - that is, not to complete the Unification, but merely to state that one will do the mitzvah. However, if a person can complete the Unification perfectly, he will not have any fear of
Accusers, and in fact, will receive help and support to complete the mitzvah.
G-d commanded the Jewish people to take vengeance against Midian because they enticed them into the idolatry of Pe'or ; no Midianite territory was captured or annexed to the land of Israel.
The idolatry of Pe'or is the hedonism, the indulgence in sensual pleasure as an end in itself, implying that physical pleasures are either too "low" and vulgar to serve divine purposes or are somehow off-limits for the holy life. Moses, the channel through whom G-d gave the Torah, championed the truth that G-dliness can and must pervade all of reality.
He used this argument to wrest the Torah from the angels. Unfortunately, the misconstruction of this appreciation for the lowest rungs of spirituality led to the error of Pe'or. In order to wipe out the source of this error and to "avenge" the evil, the ethic and zeal of self-sacrifice was required. The battle itself was therefore led by Pinchas, the zealot.
The purpose of the Torah is to sanctify our lives. When a person benefits from something in the world (like eating) for the sake of Heaven, that object is transformed from mundane to holy. Therefore, when a person is on the proper spiritual level, making oaths is not for him. His job is to elevate the physical; he has the ability, and it is inappropriate for him to run away from this G-d given purpose.
On the other hand, a person who is not certain that each and every action will be for the sake of Heaven is not always capable of elevating the physical to its spiritual source. Even worse, there is a distinct risk that those very actions will lower him deeper into the malaise of the world. Not only is it permissible, it is recommended to use oaths as a weapon to protect his spiritual level.
Wisdom from the Rebbe of Sali
Shabbat Shalom.
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