TRANSMISSION AND THE CONVEYER BELT
It is important to understand the mechanism with which we explain things to each other. What we are doing at those times is transferring ideas from mind to mind. A conveyer belt is needed to accomplish this. That conveyer belt is language. If a person never saw a table in his life, I might want to give him an idea of what a table is. First, I myself have to understand that the table is a complex of elements. Does the other person know elements? Does he know shapes? Shape is also an element of a table. Does he know color? Can he figure out how to put things together? Then I tell him, ''Listen, this is of a hard material. The shape is like a rectangular board. But I want the board to be at the level where it is easy for me to use, so I take something and I support it. Then I raise it, and I have it at the level where I can do something with it."
This is the process of translating ideas. You take apart the concept that you have to explain and bring it down to its elements. You give him the elements and you also tell him how to construct it. Therefore, if I explain something to you, there are preconditions that you, as a listener, must possess. You have to be familiar with all the elements that I am discussing, and you have to be able to follow instructions in order to construct something from what I tell you. If my listener is missing one element, he will get a picture, but not a true picture of the table. If he has all the elements but he cannot follow instructions on how to construct it, then he will have the legs of the table on top of it.
Therefore, every teacher must be very careful that the students get the right ideas. Otherwise, the teacher may say something and the student will understand something else. Every teacher has had that experience.
G-d wants us to be knowledgeable people. Therefore, He gave us the Torah, which is a replica of the universe. Along with that, we were given the mitzvah of Talmud Torah--learning Torah. We find that by learning Torah, we learn about the entire universe.
G-d wants us to have that information, but He wants us to have the real picture. Therefore, the Torah warns us not to teach people who are not prepared for that teaching, because if they are not prepared, they will learn something other than what you tell them. Maimonidies makes a statement in his Laws of Torah Study that ''if you have a student who is not ripe to understand you, what you teach him is nonsense, because what you say makes sense, but what he hears is nonsense.
There is a story about two Sages in the Talmud. Each was particularly expert in a different part of Kabbalah--one was a master of maaseh merkavah (the wisdom of the holy Chariot) and the other was a master of maaseh Bereishis (the Creation wisdom). They said, "Let us teach each other. You teach me your wisdom and I'll teach you mine."
The first one taught the other one maaseh Bereishis. Then he said, ''Now it's your turn to teach me." The other answered him by saying, "I cannot teach you. While you were teaching me, I saw your level, and you are not ready for it."
This means that what I can understand, I understand. What I cannot understand, I am better off not touching, because I will only misunderstand it. Misunderstanding is not just a zero. It is a minus. When a teacher is teaching, he should always be checking to see if the student is on the level of the teaching. This limits misunderstanding of the things that the Torah wants us to know.
There is no end to the depth of any created thing. It is only a question of how far you can go. If you take a match apart and you consider all the laws of physics in it, you can make a lifetime study out of one match. Similarly, Torah has no end. But if you are not ready for it, you can burn yourself.
Kabbalah gives you what is beyond the normal limits in the search for truth. But man does not always search for truth. He often looks for convenience. Some people think that Kabbalah is some kind of a ''power" which they can call upon and use. This is often how people look at Jewish mysticism. Their entire concept of mysticism centers around the performance of miracles. They think Kabbalah contains blessings or gimmicks. That kind of mysticism is close to paganism.
Certain academics--known as "experts" on Kabbalah--talk about Kabbalah, but they do not know what they are talking about. They have their own imagination of something, and they are teaching it as 'truth."
Often they think of Jewish Kabbalists as people who found "the key"--a good thing--and these Kabbalists keep it for themselves, not giving it to anyone else.
There are some things that are forbidden to be taught to three students at a time. But the "experts" misunderstand the reason for it. The reason is as follows: If one of the students misses a word, he may ask another one, "What did the rabbi say?" In the meantime, while those two are conversing, the rabbi is continuing with his teaching because there is a third person to listen. Then the first two will miss something. However, if just two people are being taught, it is impossible that the rabbi will continue teaching. If they are talking with each other, he will stop.
It is forbidden to learn maaseh Bereishis even with two students. If one teaches two students, he adjusts the teaching to an average between the two. Therefore, neither one can get the maximum. And maaseh Bereishis needs so much precision that you cannot trust your explanation unless it is directed to just one student.
Maaseh merkavah is so deep that it is not trusted to be handed over to even one person. It is forbidden to teach it to even a single person, unless he is a chacham (wise) and understands himself; then the rabbi may guide him to discover more for himself. Chacham refers to one who knows the whole Torah, in quantity. This means that he has learned and understands the entire Mishnah component of the Talmud, which is a compressed miniature of the whole Torah. This is quantity, but not depth, because in depth there is no end.
THE HIDDEN ART OF TORAH
We live in a period of great scientific discovery. Many people are finding out about the wonders of Creation. But instead of coming to be in awe of the Creator, they go in the opposite direction. Therefore, to learn the marvels of Creation, it is safer for us to learn it through a page of Talmud. There we also see the wondrous beauty of the Creation--in a depth without end.
There is a concept of mechuseh, something which is covered up and nistar, something which is completely hidden. If I put an object in my coat, with the bulge visible, that's called mechuseh. You do not see what I carry, but you see that I carry something. The Books of the Prophets are in the category of mechuseh. Sometimes there are very difficult sections there that absolutely require investigation and interpretation in order to be understood on any level. One knows there is something being said other than the simple, surface meaning. That's not nistar--hidden.
In the Torah, the five books of Moses, which is in the category of nistar, the art is so great that you don't even notice that there is something under the surface. The twelfth century Rashi, in his commentary on the Torah, points out for us the places where we need to investigate further. He has put together in the Torah all the elements which he felt a Jewish person needs. But there are difficult parts in Rashi also, which bear further investigation:
... In the beginning of Genesis it says, "Let there be a firmament in the middle of the waters." Rashi says that the firmament is exactly in the center between the lower waters and the upper waters. The twelfth century Nachmonidies writes that what Rashi is saying here is one of the most hidden statements of the Torah; he says, "Do not expect me to explain it, because even those who know should not explain it; and even more so, myself."
Now why did Rashi write this if it is so deep that it cannot be understood?
Let us give an analogy to explain this. Torah is compared to bread. The Midrash says that Moses did not eat bread or drink water for forty days. The Midrash then asks, ''What did he live on?" And the answer is, "On Torah. From the light of the Shechinah, (the Divine Presence)," and then it says that the angels also exist on the light of the Divine Presence.
Moses, during the time he was being given Torah, received his sustenance from Torah, which is the bread of the soul and the food of the personality.
When you eat bread, the first thing you do is chew it. When you chew it, you enjoy it. We say that G-d is tov u'meitiv--He is good and He gives goodness. This means: He is good--He gives us food; and He gives goodness--He enables us to enjoy it. But this enjoyment is not the function of the bread. The function is nourishment, and it is not nourishing until it is swallowed.
It is the same with Torah. When I am learning, that which I understand is like the taste which brings me a feeling of great satisfaction and enjoyment. But there is more: When the bread--the Torah--goes into the system, it nourishes; it goes in with an entire depth, the entire power and strength of Torah, much more than I consciously know, just like food which is digested automatically and nourishes the body even though I am unaware of it.
There are times when a person needs a food, but it is too hard to chew. So it is put in a pill, like vitamins. It is swallowed, and then one has the needed element without having to taste or chew it. When Rashi put together all the elements we need in learning Torah, there were parts which he knew we could not understand. When Nachmonidies talks about that part in Genesis which we cannot understand, he is saying, "It's a vitamin pill. Swallow it. You need it, and you'll get what you need. But don't try to understand it --you'll break your teeth!"
Whether we realize it or not, Torah is full of tremendous force and brings great inspiration.
Topic: Some insight into Jewish mysticism (Read 2741 times)