Unveiling Understanding
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Together with the regular Parshah reading of Ki Tisa, we also read Parshat Parah this week, the passage with the laws of purification using the ashes of a red heifer. These laws were instrumental in purifying anyone who came into contact with death so that he could participate in the upcoming Pascal sacrifice. While the two readings seem to be very different, they do nevertheless contain related themes.
While instructions for the building of the Mishkan, its vessels, and the priestly garments began in earlier parshiot, Hashem here appoints the main artisans for the construction. These will be Bezalel from the Tribe of Yehudah whom Hashem has filled with the Godly spirit, and Oholiav from the Tribe of Dan. And Hashem “has endowed the heart of every chacham-lev/wise hearted person with wisdom” to do the work Hashem has commanded.
The Gemarra asks a very obvious question: Why is Hashem giving wisdom to those who already possess a wise heart. Should He not give wisdom to those who do not yet have wisdom? But wisdom, like money, is extended to those who know its value, and therefore Hashem gives wisdom to those wise of heart rather than to those not wise at all.
We would think that wisdom lies in the brain, where thought takes place. Why is the emphasis here on those who are wise of heart, asks Rabbi Hofstedter? The Seforno here cites the choice of Yehoshua as the one chosen the leader of Bnei Yisroel after Moshe, that Yehoshua is a man asher ruach bo/whose spirit is in him. It is this spirit that Hashem seeks to give wisdom to, the spirit of a seeker of wisdom. Yehoshua, in seeking wisdom, constantly stayed in the tent of his Rebbe and mentor, Moshe. When Moshe went up to get the luchot atop Har Sinai, Yehoshua stayed at the foot of the mountain awaiting Moshe’s return so he could hear the first words of Torah Moshe would deliver. He had not returned to the camp for these forty days and had no idea that the noise they were hearing was from the revelry of the people who had fashioned a golden calf. Wisdom is based in the heart, in valuing wisdom so that it becomes part of the individual. As it says in Pirkei Avot, “Who is wise? He who [is willing] to learn from everyone.” When someone has this desire, Hashem will fill him with wisdom. In this respect, wisdom is truly based in the heart rather than in the brain.
It most be noted that constructing the Mishkan and its vessels, and producing the priestly garments required proficient skills that Bnei Yisroel could not have learned as slaves in Mitzrayim. Herein lies sod hamiluy/the secret of filling, says Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz as cited in Chochmat Hamatzpun. These artisans of the Mishkan had so much desire in their hearts to learn to do this work that Hashem filled them with all the knowledge they would need for the task. The key here was their desire for learning. It was not detached, but was part of their deep calling toward doing this work. This is wisdom of the heart, that wisdom becomes an integral part of one’s essence. Their hearts carried them, and Hashem filled their desire and gifted them with the necessary knowledge. This strong desire included an unbreakable faith that Hashem would make them successful, a faith that was even greater than the faith with which Bnei Yisroel entered Yam Suf. Wisdom is developed through one’s desire rather through one’s innate intelligence.
To illustrate this point, Rabbi Gurawitz in Chochmat Hamatzpun cites the story of one of the Rishonim (11th to 15th Centuries) who wrote a sefer and titled it Boruch Sheomar. He explained the choice of title by relating that as a young child the only prayer he knew was Boruch Sheomar from the morning service. He would constantly go into the shul, stand before the aron kodesh and fervently pray and cry with the only words he knew, and Hashem rewarded him with the Torah knowledge that made him the renowned scholar of Torah. Because his yearning was actualized through this one prayer, he titled his writing the name of that prayer, Boruch Sheomar. Closer to our time, whenever Reb Chaim of Volozhin had difficulty with a particular shailah, he would pray that Hashem should fill him with wisdom. A chacham lev is one who is not satisfied with what he already knows, but continues to seek more wisdom.
We must open ourselves up to become a vessel to hold the wisdom Hashem wants to give us, for if our hearts are not open, there is no way we can receive the wisdom. Rabbi Wolbe compares this to the event with the Prophet Elisha and the starving widow. Collecting all the jars and pots from her neighbors, the widow kept pouring the bit of oil she had, filling all the vessels. But when there were no more vessels available, the oil ceased flowing from the original container.
Wisdom comes to those who are wise enough to seek it rather than to those with the highest IQ. [Like success, only 10% is aptitude and 90% is attitude. CKS] It starts with the desire to grow in wisdom, but is cultivated through the patient work necessary to nurture it. In this context, each of us has the potential to become a Bezalel, but we need to have the passionate desire to achieve the necessary wisdom, adds Rav Mordechai Ezrachi.
We are each gifted before our birth with many characteristics, skills and talents, but these natural boundaries can be surpassed with the proper desire. That desire Rabbi Meislish identifies as yirat shamaim/awe of God, the one characteristic that is totally within our power, not allotted us at birth, and that will be the deciding factor in our success in Torah and in the wisdom that comes from service to God. It is that desire that will propel us to seek wisdom.
Although we begin with the desire and labor toward achieving it, the acquisition of wisdom is actually a gift from Hashem. That flash of insight, the “light bulb moment” is a gift from Hakodosh Boruch Hu, not a result of our effort, writes Rabbi Bunim. This is why we pray in Shemoneh Esrei, “Ata chonen le’adam daat/You graciously endow man with wisdom and teach insight to a frail mortal.” Towards the end of that same brachah, we ask Hashem, “Endow us graciously from Yourself with chochmah/wisdom, binah/insight, and haskel/discernment.” It is not enough to have esoteric knowledge, nor even to make inferences and deductions. What is important, writes Rabbi Schwab is to apply this knowledge to our daily lives, not just to know halachah, but to invest our being with acting according to Hashem’s will. When we combine dayah/knowledge with (v)binah/understanding, and with haskel/saychel/application, we get dvash/sweet honey, adds Rabbi Feuer.
The Parah Adumah/red heifer was meant to purify us from contamination. In the secular world especially, we confront constant moral corruption and impurity. While we no longer can avail ourselves of the ashes of the red heifer, we can still pray and recite the passages of the red heifer with the fervent hope to indicate our desire to remain holy, that we are undergoing an internal purification process writes Rabbi Biederman. Each of the thirty days from Purim to Pesach, Hashem brings us one step closer to extricating ourselves from our personal spiritual Mitzrayim.
The Maggid of Jerusalem, Rabbi Sholom Schwadron, clarifies for us the difference between general chochmah and chochmat halev/wisdom of the heart, the subject of our current discussion. General, secular chochmah is, as we would assume, based in the brain. This brain centered knowledge is never integrated into one’s character. In contrast, chochmah of the heart is Torah and Godly based. It enters one’s character and informs all one’s actions. This understanding explains why some brilliant people can also be among the world’s most evil, informs us Rabbi Pam. It explains why Aristotle could act immorally and licentiously, and claim that in real life he is not Aristotle the brilliant philosopher. Wisdom of the heart involves an elevating and purifying process. As Rav Dovid Hofstedter explains, a chacham lev is one whose heart is defined by doing God’s will. The chacham lev is the one whose wisdom rules over his heart. It is the wisdom of self control. We have to be aware to use the gift of wisdom appropriately.
Here Rebbetzin Smiles interjected an important point. In today’s shidduch scene, people often focus on resumes that list schools and accomplishments with very little insight into middos/character. That resume tends to provide a portrait of general chochmah with very little on chochmat halev. Character and middos are more necessary to building a proper home in Israel than is the “diploma” of a particular school or yeshivah. The resume is what “God gives You; your middos is what you give God.”
Yalkut Lekach Tov relates how Reb Chaim Brim zt”l would learn weekly with the Chofetz Chaim zt”l. People would bring Reb Chaim shailos and requests to pass on to the Chofetz Chaim. At one point, Reb Chaim relayed to the Chofetz Chaim that he was uncomfortable taking away from their study time together to pass on these requests. The Chofetz Chaim response was that being sensitive to other people, to hone one’s character in this way, is what is necessary for Torah learning to enter the heart, to become a chacham lev.
To be a chacham lev is to accept Hashem’s sovereignty and commit to walking in His ways, writes Rabbi Kofman in Mishchat Shemen. Citing Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, Rabbi Kofman notes that when Shlomo Hamelech asked Hashem for chochmah, Hashem agreed to give him a lev chacham venavon/a wise and discerning heart, a heart ready to listen to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Along with desire, one must have a willingness to accept Hashem’s Kingship. This takes a certain humility, the kind of humility also necessary for a willingness to learn from everyone, no matter the other’s station in life, writes Rabbi Irving Bunim.
In the brachah that we’ve been discussing, there seems to be a superfluous word: “Chaneinu mayitcha dayah… /Graciously bestow upon us from Your wisdom…” Rabbi Leff notes that that the wisdom we are seeking is unlike the knowledge granted to all the nations. The knowledge we seek is part of Hashem Himself, gifted to us through His Torah.
This desire to do Hashem’s will was implanted in us at creation and was our natural state, writes the Ramban However, when Adam sinned, conflicting desires entered our psyche, a conflict that will be resolved in the Messianic era when we will again naturally choose to do that which is proper. At that time, writes Rabbi Wolbe, the entire earth will be filled with knowledge of Hashem as water covers the sea. Before his sin, this knowledge, this chochmat lev was intuitive and intrinsic to Adam. After the sin, it was no longer in his heart, but was transferred to his head. A chacham lev, “heart” wise, sees Hashem with clarity, senses intuitively the will of God. A chacham saychel, “brain” wise, goes through so many steps before he arrives back at the knowledge of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. We go through this thought process, but the Torah counters all biases the brain presents. When Moshiach comes, we will no longer need logical steps to bring us back to the original, intuitive knowledge of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
Here is the connection between the wisdom of the Mishkan artisans and parah adumah. Just as we accept the laws of the red heifer as a chok, beyond human understanding, so should we accept every mitzvah in the Torah, for they are all from Hashem’s “mind.” We need to accept all the mitzvoth through our chochmat lev/knowledge of the heart, not chochmat hasaychel/knowledge of the brain. Then I can receive the chochmah of connection to Hashem, writes the Sichot Eliyahu.
The essence of parah adumah is to purify us and prepare us for the final redemption. This goal is formulated in the Haftorah of Parshat Parah., writes Rav Biederman, citing Rav Tzadok. The Haftorah reads, “I will give you a new heart… I will put in you a new spirit.” How? By sprinkling you with the purifying waters and you will be cleansed…” You will be rid of the negative middos that brought death to the world for which the ashes of the red heifer atone, and you will get a new heart, ready to receive chochmat Hashem/the intuitive wisdom of Hashem, secure in your heart.
We can begin the process of acquiring this chochmah through our desire for it and through working on our middos every day.
Condolences to Channie Koplowitz Stein on the loss of her brother, Yaakov Halevi ben Avraham z"l.