בס”ד
By Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
Painting by: Baruch Nachshon z”l
And You Shall Settle Upon the Land Securely
This parsha contains one of the sections of tefillin, parshat Shema, which we also utter several times a day. Both the tefillin and our utterance of Shema are signs of our love, faith and devotion to Hashem on a constant daily level. Loving Hashem also entails contemplating Hashem’s love upon us, as our Sages instituted the “blessing of love,” which elaborates on Hashem’s love upon us, juxtaposed to parshat Shema when we talk about the commandment for us to love Hashem. When we are filled with this dual love, the path to joy is made ever easier, and this is also the path to the comforting of Israel and Zion after the painful period of mourning throughout the three weeks. This may axplain the juxtaposition of the tefillin and its portions with the word “simcha-joy” in this painting. In one passage of the Talmud an Amora who is seen to be very joyful is asked why so, and to this he answers that he is wearing tefillin. Some commentators say that by saying this he meant to say that the tefillin gives him a more heavy-serious connection to Hashem so that the joy will not be too intense. However, according to the Arizal the opposite feeling is meant here – that it is the mitzva of tefillin which is giving him joy, and therefore his joy is no mere light-headedness.
One of the more uplifting feelings which one can serve Hashem, and give one spiritual enlightenment, is the feeling of joy. Indeed, in this painting, which has joy as a central theme, we see an “angelic” bluish/greenish winged figure as if “wearing tefillin” elevating to the heavens. We also see a candle in a rose, The candle seems to stand for the soul enlightened, and the rose is a symbo, of Israel in Shir Hashirim, meaning that the enlightenend soul has impact on the grand group-soul of all Israel. Right next to the tefillin we also see a shofar, the instrument of repentance. (For advanced readers: notice that the order of the parshiot correspond to the order vav, heh, yod, and heh, an order of the Tetragrammaton that is associated with the month of Tishrei, Kabbalistically, when we blow the shofar). Notice as well the butterflies which come from the shofar, seeming to symbolize metamorphosis and transformation coming from repentance. We can say that true joy does not only negate deep repentance, but on the contrary is an important step in true repentance. Thus, we can say that joyous Tu Ba’av is actually a deepening of the repentance that begin with Tisha Baav and the three weeks, by understanding that the source of all our troubles is embedded in what the verse says “because you did not serve Hashem with joy and goodness of heart.” When we rectify this joy, coming from full faith in Hashem’s direction for us we rectify the sin of the spies, when Israel denied Hashem’s wonderful gift of the Holy Land, and instead “cried in void and baseless despair.” Let us imbibe the spirit and gratitude for the Holy Land that is so part of the spirit of Hebron where Kaleb drew his courage to confront the plot of the spies!