Monday’s Song: Yearning for Shamayim
All the trouble began on Monday. On that day, the second day of the creation of the world, Hashem separated the lower waters from the higher waters, and the unity of the world was broken. Rabbenu Bachya says the name of the day, sheni, which means two, introduced the concept of shinui, change to the world. From this day forward, the ability to change G-d’s plan was in the hands of creation. Immediately, things began to stray from the plan. On day three the earth produced trees that were different from what Hashem had commanded. On the fourth day the moon complained and was made smaller. On the fifth day the female leviatan, the sea monster, was killed. And on the sixth day we sinned and were kicked out of Gan Eden. Change, free will and machloket were created, and that affected everything moving forward.
From one perspective, this is a negative development. And in fact, Hashem did not say “ki tov” on day two. On the other hand, there is great spiritual force to the day. The mizmor for Monday is mizmor 38, which begins by describing how Hashem is gadol, great. Rav Moshe Shapiro, zt”l, explains that gadol describes a specific aspect of Hashem’s greatness: His ability to unify all the disparate pieces of our world into one whole. Hashem’s greatness is revealed in the diversity of the Rain Forest, and it is revealed in the diversity of the opinions of humanity. As the mizmor continues, it is found openly in the City of Hashem. The reference is to Yerushalayim as it is described at the end of Yechezkel (48:30-35), a city with a unique gate for each tribe. The greatness of Hashem is expressed in the recognition that even when we are going to the same place, we each have our own path to get there.
It is not by accident that we Jews have a long history of disagreements. Rav Schorr explains that Hashem used the Torah as the blueprint for the world. Just as in the Torah there is not one word which is repeated or extra, so too in the world, there can be no extra creation, nothing unnecessary. If two creations were exactly the same, that would make one unnecessary. Therefore, each creation has an individualized purpose. Each person is gifted with an individualized face and an individualized mind.
We live our lives with a balance between our own unique path, and our place in the whole. This is how Rav Schorr explains the famous words of Hillel HaZaken, “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” Each of us has our own unique purpose, and it is our job to be mindful of that. No one else can fulfill our purpose for us. Nevertheless, “If I am only for myself, what am I?” Each of our paths leads to a place of unity in the world, and we have to keep that in mind as well. Finally, “If not now, when?” because each moment of our lives is as unique as we are. Each moment is another unique rediscovering of our unique place in the world. Our life is an ever-expanding journey of expressing our truth in this world.
Diversity can be an incredible expression of the greatness of Hashem. But it is not always intrinsically good. Rabbenu Bachya, in his comments to Parshat Korach, tells us that Korach drew the spiritual strength to begin his famous argument with Moshe from the spirituality of the second day. Korach’s sin was a repetition of the sin of the generation of the Tower of Bavel. Like that generation, Korach spoke words of unity: “This whole congregation are all Holy and Hashem is among them.” And also like that generation, the unity was a false unity. It led over 250 men to their deaths.
Korach’s underlying desire was for self-sufficiency. In the generation of the Tower of Bavel, the Midrash tells us that what they desired was to create a method where they could be sure that no flood would ever come to the earth again. They didn’t want to rely on Hashem. Korach did something similar in the spiritual realm. The question he addressed to Moshe was, “If I have a garment that is completely made of techeilet, do I need to add a single techeilet string to the fringes?” The idea underlying this question was, if I am already the “techeilet,” if I am already holy, why do I need anything more? In fact, he took this idea even further. He argued that if the entire congregation of Jews is holy enough, they no longer need Moshe to bring them close to Hashem.
This is, of course, not how our world works. Separation and diversity were not introduced into the world alone. There was something else created at the same time. The Zohar (Tikkunei Zohar Tikun 5) tells us that when the lower waters were separated from the higher waters they cried out, “We too want to stand before the King!” Together with the separation, the desire to reunite was born.
Our world is divided between aretz and shamayim. Bereisheit Rabbah 5:8 tells us that the earth is called aretz because it runs (ratz) and desires to fulfill the will (ratzon) of its creator. The earth is the place of movement, the place where we are all running to fill our individual desires. It is also therefore the place of conflict and machloket. We bump into each other in our race to get what we want.
Shamayim, on the other hand, comes from the plural of the word sham, there. It is the end point, the collection of all destinations. Rashi (Bereisheit 1:8) tells us that shamayim is the place of fire and water together. On earth fire and water can not mix. But shamayim is the place of Hashem’s limitless power. There, fire and water can be combined.
Our individual paths are important, but they are not the end of the story. They are valuable because they are part of Hashem’s infinite plan. We are not self-sufficient in our kedusha. We are kadosh because we are connected to Hashem. This is the message of the techeilet, the message that Korach didn’t hear. Even though we are holy creations of Hashem, we still need the little string to remind us to reach out for something bigger. Our diversity is valuable as an expression of the limitless Kingship of Hashem.
Our Sages (Avot 5:16) tell us that the machloket of Korach didn’t endure because it was not l’shem shamayim. Korach didn’t understand the whole picture. He didn’t see that the space for our individual diversity is created through our connection to the limitlessness of Hashem. Even so, he played a valuable part in Hashem’s world. And in the end, the mizmor that the leviim sang in the Beit HaMikdash on Monday was written by Korach’s sons.