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The Fair Maiden's Hero
Discuss (11)"He found her in the field. The maiden cried out, but there was no one to hear."—Deuteronomy 22:27
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch explained:
Captured by Esau, a brute of the field, raped and abused, the G_dly soul within us screams spontaneously from its depths.
And no one hears.
No one. Nothingness. The nothingness from which everything begins. Not a being, not just the Source of All Being, but the core-essence of G_d, beyond all being. There, her cry is heard.
Nothingness hears. Just as the screams of a fair maiden will awaken the hidden power of her beloved to overcome mighty armies and slay awesome giants; so too, the cries of the soul from her captivity—the core of her being reaches to the core of the Infinite Above.
Anything could change. Even the past.
Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. To order Rabbi Freeman’s book, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, click here.
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First, to the much maligned Esau:
“And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. [Genesis, 25:27]
So, the TEXT (the scribe,or even G-d, if you prefer) clearly states that Esau is a MAN, not a beast. And by the way, why malign God’s beasts – THEY don’t commit rape!
Further, I find NO evidence in the TEXT of Genesis that Esau ever committed rape.
Back to the “betrothed damsel in the field” [Deut. 22:25]
The TEXT doesn’t tell us she was “fair” (or dark, ugly or beautiful) and NONE of these attributes is either required or relevant. (This is NOT Mediaeval Romance.)
She was raped by a MAN. “The man…shall die.” That’s the news/prescription/legal edict here.
“There is in the damsel no sin worthy of death”; indeed is there any sin at all?
Here begins our modern understanding of such an event.
Praha, Czech Republic
I'll tell you what: Write this to our Ask The Rabbi team (link at top right) and perhaps it may even become a published article for everyone to discuss.
Highland Park, NJ
Thank you.
Toronto, Canada
Highland Park, NJ
Yes, the Tzemach Tzedek (who composed this drusha) was saying that all sin is rape. Our only crime is that we don't scream loud enough. But the G_dly soul within us cannot intentionally sin.
However, there is a glimmer of the soul that becomes tied up with the body, called the "nefesh" (as opposed to ruach, neshama, chaya, yechida--the four higher levels of the soul). That aspect of the soul can be duped into sinning. Perhaps the best translation of nefesh is "person"--because that is most of your outer character, the bodily character.
When a person does teshuva, that nefesh is entirely transformed. Her past person is divorced, gone. As the Rambam puts it, she is able to say, "I am not that person who did those things."
What's left of the person are those aspects of the soul that were never tainted by the sin to begin with--along with a new person who was never even there.
"If the maiden is the soul...The soul cries out for relief from its physical incarnation, longing for the life of the spirit, and "there is none to hear"...HaShem is clearly...meant by the No-One in the story. HE is the non-being, the non-created, the Source of all being, known kabbalistically as No-Thing (since He is not a "Thing") and sometimes as No-One. HE hears the soul.... He offers Her relief. He is stronger than anything in the material universe, and He loves Her and he saves Her. if She is brokenhearted and cries out in anguish; the power of the repentant soul's cries are so great that even past sins are transmuted into mitzvot."
My insertion of material about the Shkhinah dilutes the material about the power of the soul that cries out--but I did primarily tell the soul story. The Shkhinah is extra.
Houston, Texas
Think of those Popeye cartoons, where Olive Oil is tied and bound by Brutus on the railroad track. Here spontaneous desperate cries bring out the superhuman in her hero. Her cries are what MAKE him into a hero.
So too, with the desperate cries of a soul abused by the facts of life on planet earth--they burst forth from the deep subconscious of the soul and reach to the highest point of the Infinite One Above.
So I'm going to have to rewrite this one again.
I will do what I can.
First, on the level of Pshat, the Torah tells us that if a woman says she was raped, but she was in the city and failed to scream, she is not believed. But if she was in the country, it is assumed that she dis scream, but there was none to hear.
Second, I disagree with the use of the word "sin" here. The Torah specifically says that she has done nothing wrong, but that she is in the situation of a man who is robbed by force. However, she is tarnished, damaged, just as the robbed man is diminished.
OK, now forget the Pshat, because now we go into Sod (secret, mystery) or possibly Remes (allegory). Maybe a bit of both.
If the maiden is the soul, then the rapist, Esau, may be the body, keeping the soul imprisoned in an alien and tarnishing and diminishing atmosphere. The soul cries out for relief from its physical incarnation, longing for the life of the spirit, and "there is none to hear"--because here in the physical universe, there can be none. No created being can help her. (The word "soul" is feminine, and so we refer to it as "she" and "her".)
Or the rapist may be our sins. Or it may be the physical universe. I am not totally clear on this detail. Since the rapist's name is Esau, he could represent Jacob's enemy and nemesis, which would imply that the maiden is Jacob--or, rather, Israel, the people, the collective soul of all Jews. That would mean the maiden is the Shkhinah, one of whose identities is precisely that of our collective Jewish "national" soul. Or, if the Shkhinah is the Divine Presence in the physical universe, then the Redemption of the Universe would occur when She is locked in the embrace of Her beloved, The One [see the next paragraph]. Unfortunately, when Israel sins, the Shkhinah is ripped from the arms of her true mate, and taken and raped by the Evil One...I do not recall exactly who that is....possibly the king of the demons, often denoted as Asmodai...possibly The Satan? I am not sure. And the Kadosh Baruch Hu, instead of His True Mate, the Shkhinah, must instead embrace Lilith, Queen of the Demons. This is so unfair. Of course at least one person sins sometimes. It is impossible for us all to be perfect! But that is the sod on the Shkhinah, so today's dose could be about saving the Shkhinah from the evil one. And today's dose offers hope that in spite of the seeming impossibility, HaShem can save the Shkhinah and thereby all the world. If we just cry loudly enough, HaShem can hear. HaShem is clearly Who is meant by the No-One in the story. HE is the non-being, the non-created, the Source of all being, known kabbalistically as No-Thing (since He is not a "Thing") and sometimes as No-One. HE hears the soul or the Shkhinah. He offers Her relief. He is stronger than anything in the material universe, and He loves Her and he saves Her. (HE being commonly called "Gd"--an inadequate name or title for Him, but His True Name, which actually means "causes to exist" is too sacred to write or say.)
When She cries out to Him, HE transforms all Her sins into mitzvot. Or, if She is the Shkhinah, then she is, among other things, the Soul of Israel, and He transforms ALL of our sins into mitzvot. If She is the Divine Presence in the physical universe, then the whole physical universe is redeemed.
It's a clever kabbalistic drash. If it is intended to be only about the single soul, it's like using your left hand to scratch your right ear. All this about the soul has often been said and cited in so many words : Gd alone has the power to save the hopelessly lost soul, and will certainly do so if She is brokenhearted and cries out in anguish; the power of the repentant soul's cries are so great that even past sins are transmuted into mitzvot. "Where the repentant sinner stands, the totally righteous can never stand."
However, if this Dose is intended to cover all the bases, from soul to Shkhinah, it is a compact way of getting it all into one story.
253. The Fair Maidens Hero
He found her in the field. The maiden cried out, but there was no one to hear.Deuteronomy 22:23
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch read this as follows:
Captured by Esau, a brute of the field, raped and abused, the G_dly soul within us screams.
And no one hears.
No one hears. No one. Nothingness. The nothingness from which everything begins. Not a being, but the Source of All Being. There, her cry is heard.
Nothingness hears. Just as the screams of a fair maiden will awaken the hidden power of her beloved to overcome mighty armies and slay awesome giants; so too, the cries of the soul from her captivity reach the very Essence of All Being.
Anything could change. Even the past.