Sparks of Light

Sparks of Light The Jewish Paradox

By Rebbetzin Chanie Wolowik

Is Judaism concerned with heaven or earth? The spiritual or the material?

It’s not such a simple question. In Judaism, we are constantly faced with a paradox that the only way to reach the highest spiritual levels is through physicality. Indeed, this is the entire reason why the pure and lofty soul came down to this world. It is because the ultimate connection to Hashem is through serving Him through mitzvos; mitzvos are physical actions that by definition can only be done while in a body.

It is told that when the Vilna Gaon was on his deathbed, he was crying. His students surrounding him asked why he was crying. Could it be that he feared judgment? It was known that the Gaon spent every waking minute of his life immersed in Torah study. Literally, for decades, he never ceased studying.

The Gaon clasped his tallis katan and cried, “I will soon be leaving a world where for a few kopeks one can buy tzitzis and thereby do a mitzvah every second he wears them. I am heading for a world where one cannot acquire a single mitzvah for all of the treasures of that world.”

The paradox of Judaism is that we simultaneously yearn for the loftiest spiritual heights while recognizing the profound importance of being in a body in this physical world. The life of a Jew is about constantly embracing that paradox. When we want to be spiritual, we don’t do it by going to a mountaintop to meditate by ourselves. We do it by performing a simple, practical action, whether it

be lighting Shabbos candles, giving tzedakah, or performing any other mitzvah.

The role of the Jewish woman places even more emphasis on this paradox of achieving spirituality through physicality. For instance, the Jewish woman is primarily responsible for maintaining the kashrus of the food in her family’s home. In other words, she takes something as mundane as eating and elevates it to a spiritual act. Similarly, the mitzvah of family purity through mikveh takes something physical and sanctifies it so that it brings Hashem’s Presence into her family’s home. And this is the essence of all mitzvos and the purpose of Judaism in general. Our job is to live as bodies in the physical world, not to avoid it but to lift it up through using it to do Hashem’s will. This coming year, 5782, is a Sab-

batical year, the seventh year of the agricultural cycle in the Land of Israel when Jewish farmers are commanded to rest from working the land. There is something very special about the Sabbatical year which really represents the essence of Judaism.

The English word “Sabbatical” literally means “Sabbath-like,” which is accurate to the wording of this mitzvah in the Torah (Vayikra 25:2), “When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land shall rest a Shabbos to the L-rd.” So the seventh year is called Shabbos, just like the seventh day is called Shabbos.

However, there is an advantage that the seventh year has over the seventh day.

The seventh day is a Shabbos when we are completely removed from anything worldly or mundane. We are forbidden from any work at all.

In contrast, during the seventh year we are involved in regular life. We continue to tend to all other business and mundane affairs. The only limitations are in respect to agriculture.

Thus, the Baal Shem Tov explained that the words “the land shall rest a Shabbos to the L-rd” means that through the observance of the Sabbatical year, the quality of “Shabbos,” i.e., complete spirituality, is brought down into “the land,” i.e., materiality. And in this sense, the Sabbatical year is even greater than Shabbos for it brings the spirituality of Shabbos into worldly affairs. This means that all year long, even when we are tending to our practical matters, we are connected to the idea of Shabbos-like rest.

And this is really the phenomenon found in every mitzvah – the ultimate spiritual connection is reached in living ordinary, everyday life in accordance with the will of Hashem.

When we want to be spiritual, we don’t do it by going to a mountaintop to meditate by ourselves.