Tzama Nafshi in English - Parshas Terumahפרשת תרומה
Transcribed
and translated from previous recordings of
HaRav
Eliezer Berland Shlit”a
“From between the two
Cherubs” (25:22)
When
Hashem Yisborach chose to create the world for the purpose of showering His
creations with goodness and so that all will recognize His greatness and merit
clinging to Him, blessed He be – before any of that took place, before
creation, He delegated a certain point, a point which is both light and
vitality! All of the souls were drawn down from that point, and then each and
every person was created from that point. “And I will speak to you from between
the two Cherubs.” Man was created from ‘between the two Cherubs’. That point
was drawn down from between the two Cherubs. Every person must find his way
back to that point. Every person must return to his root and include himself
within that point. The whole purpose of our current lifetime as well as our
past lifetimes is to elevate us to that wondrous point, which is the letter
“Yud”. That is why we are called, “Yehudim” (Jews); we were named after that
“Yud”. The essence of a Jew – a Yid, is that little point. Every person must
see to it that his entire being, his very essence - will turn back into that
little point, that simple point; into the letter “Yud”. Rebbe Pinchas of Koritz
said, “What is the purpose of the point on a crown? The word crown means
“non-existent”. Who can merit attaining a crown? Who can merit attaining that
point? Only one who is humble.”
How
can a person become humble? Through Torah and chessed (acts of kindness). Like
it says in the Gemara of Avodah Zara (17:2): “Rav Huna said, ‘Whoever spends
all of his time just learning Torah is likened to one who has no G-d, as it
says (Divrei Hayamim 2:15): And Israel will have many days without a true
G-d.” The Gemara is stating that if a person learns Torah but does not do
chessed and help his fellow Jew, he is considered as one who has no G-d!
“Without a true G-d” – there is no truth to this! During the time that Asa the
King Reigned over Israel, everyone learned Torah; there was not one man who did
not study Torah! Asa burned all of the statues of Avodah Zara, opened up
Yeshivas, and yet, it is written in Divrei Hayamim [that Israel were] “Without
a true G-d”. Asa taught all of the Jews to study Torah! However, he did not
teach them to do acts of chessed! He didn’t teach them to help the weak, to
learn with study partners who were weak [i.e., they needed assistance in their
learning]! That, he didn’t teach them! That is the aspect of “without a true
G-d.”
If a
person studies the Torah but does not do acts of kindness such as helping his
friends, helping the weak, etc., it’s as though he learned nothing at all! When
he studies on his own, learning with none but himself, he starts seeing himself
as the greatest Torah scholar of the generation! He lives an illusion that he
is the greatest Rabbi of the generation! Slowly, slowly, he loses Hashem. A
person who only learns Torah for his own sake becomes egocentric! He says to
himself, “Soon, I’ll become a great teacher, a Rabbi, maybe even a big Rosh
Yeshiva!” He is so full of arrogance, he simply can’t find the time to help
others; he’s ‘too busy’! He thinks that every second he spends helping another
is purely a waste of his ‘precious’ time! What a waste of time it is to
speak to others and be kind to them… he has to focus on becoming a great
Rabbi! When one does nothing else besides studying Torah he becomes arrogant,
as it says, “Whoever is arrogant – he and I cannot live together in the same
world” (Sotah 5:1). Whoever is arrogant drives away the Shechina (the Divine
Presence)! He is literally pushing the Shechina away! He is removing the
Shechina from the world! When the Shechina exits the world, terrible things
happen; murder, all sorts of disasters, accidents, etc., may we never know of
such things. Every little thought of pride causes the Shechina to leave the
world. Contrarily, learning Torah together with acts of kindness nullifies
self- pride. If a person studies the Torah and also helps other people, he
discovers that there are people who are better than he! If a man starts studying
together with another man, one who is weaker than he, he will discover that his
study partner actually has better middos (traits), better qualities, more
holiness, and more humbleness and so on. This humbles him!
The
same rule applies to one who only does acts of kindness but does not learn
Torah. He, too, will be full of arrogance. A person may start a big chessed
organization, perhaps he gives out tons of food to the poor and needy; this
will surely drive him to arrogance. This guy starts thinking that he is the
world’s biggest chessed-doer! If he does chessed without learning Torah he’ll
think he is the most charitable man in the world! After all, he is the one
supporting thousands of families – who is comparable to him?! Moreover, now that he has already become full
of arrogance, due to all of his acts of kindness, the result is inevitable;
even if he himself is tired of doing kindness for others he will do it anyway
because of his lust for pride and honor. He will desperately seek out poor
families to help, even if that means searching basements and the likes,
anything to find poor families who don’t have food for Shabbos. He’ll rescue
thousands of families and do things that no one else does because acts of
chessed build his ego! He thinks that he is saving people! He’s the so-called
redeemer! He thinks he’s the greatest person in the world! He has broken the
world-record of haughtiness! However, if he also learns Torah he will lose his
arrogance. He’ll discover that one guy knows how to learn better than he,
another guy knows the Tosfos better and yet another guy knows halacha better
than he, etc. He’ll see that there are people that are much better than he!
There are men greater than he!
Now,
his balloon has popped! He will become humble! The bottom line is that Torah
without chessed leads to arrogance as does chessed without Torah! Only a person
who learns Torah and also does chessed can be humble. Good Shobbas!
[That
is the meaning of “I will speak to you from between the two Cherubs”,
only from that essential point of humbleness can a person have a true
connection to his creator, from that point of humbleness which is only found
between the two Cherubs – representing Torah and Chessed.]
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