Dehydrating Water

Hello Hello!

Time is scarce. Shabbat is approaching. Writing this D'var Torah would defeat the entire purpose. I must, therefore, write this as I am saying farewell. It will be quick.

On every one of the six days of creation, the Torah tells us, Hashem saw that it was good - "ki tov." Post game wrap up - today was a good day, day and night were good ideas. After Hashem created the fish, He saw that it was good. He did a good job. There was nothing wrong there. And at the very end of the sixth day, the Torah tells us, Hashem looked at EVERYTHING he has made, and it was all VERY GOOD. No regrets.
Except for one thing. On the second day, it doesn't say this statement of, "And Hashem saw what He made, and it was good." No such observation appears regarding the second day. Furthermore, this statement is written TWICE by the third day. Why the omission on the second day? Why the repetition on the third day?
In short hand, on the second day, Hashem separated water into two groups. Waters above and waters below. Water used to be all in one unit, like one huge H20. On the second day, Hashem created the very concept of separation. Now, is separation a good thing? Sometimes! Separation between Jews and non Jews is necessary. Separation between Shabbat and the other days is necessary. But separation doesn't belong within a unit. There should be no separation within the Jews. There should be no separation within the waters.On the second day, when Hashem separated water into different parts, it is not written "And Hashem saw what He made, and it was good," because separation within a unit was created. On the first day, there was separation between day and night, light and dark. That's good. But separation within water itself is not good. There should be no separation withing Jews. If you feel separated from any type of Jew, that's not good. If you want to be good (at least in G-d's eyes, so to speak), you should probably change that. This explains the omission.
Why is there a repetition on the third day? Very simple. At the beginning of the third day, the water that was put on earth gathered together. Of course, this isn't undoing what was done, but reunification within a group has just been created. The waters on earth gathered together. "And Hashem saw what He made, and it was good." The first time it says this line on the third day, it is referring to the second day's work, but only after this embellishment. The second statement is for the creation of the third day. I apologize for the brevity, but I hope that the point was made. We are Hashem's children. Imagine a family, sitting at a dinner table, and one of the sons doesn't speak with another son. Is there anything that will hurt their father more than that? His owns kids don't get along. That's not good. Don't that to you Father, Hashem. Keep Him happy. Love His children. Love Jews. Amen, Selah!
I am unsure where I heard/learned this, but it was last year during my year in Israel. Good stuff, no?

Shabbat Shalom
Avraham Adam Sabzevari

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Old Vs. Young

Shalom!

Coming out of Yom Kippur free of sin, we are headed toward Succot to live under the sky, with Hashem.

During the times of the Beit Hamikdash (soon, b"H), at the end of the week-long holiday, we had the "Simchat Beit Hasho'evah." The Mishna tells us that whoever did not witness the Simchat Beit Hasho'evah that took place in the Beit Hamikdash never witnessed true happiness. The Rabbis were the source of entertainment. The Gemara (Sukkah) discusses all of the things that went down during that week. One Rabbi juggled eight knives. Another juggled fire. One Rabbi juggled eight cups of wine, filled to the top, and managed to keep all the wine inside the cups. How? No clue. But he did it.

Some of the Rabbis made announcements (Sukkah 53a). The Rabbis who were always "religious" said, "We thank our years of youth for not embarrassing us in our elderly years." The Rabbis who have done teshuva said, "We thank our elderly years for going against our years of youth." All proclaimed together, "Praiseworthy is the man who hasn't sinned. And those who have sinned, let them repent, and they will be forgiven."

There is one line I would like to zero in on, and give two possible understandings. [I didn't come up with them, but I don't remember who said these two ways. Sorry.]

"We thank our years of youth for not embarrassing us in our elderly years."

(1) Many people think regret their past. That is an uneasy feeling. To feel that you have wasted your life is not something you want to feel. These Rabbis expressed their happiness, that they need not be ashamed of what they did in their past.

None of us want to think back and have regrets. Let's do what's right in the beginning and spare ourselves of these feelings in the future.

(2) Many people are strong when they are young. They spend long nights studying Torah, exert a lot of energy doing people favors, spend a lot of time meticulously doing mitzvot. But as they grow older, it's not as easy. How can you spend 6 hours a day learning Torah if you are now married and have a spouse to care about? How can you spend so much money on mitzvot if you have to save up money for diapers? How can you focus on prayer when you have to worry about your children's college funds? Can you really be expected to perform mitzvot perfectly when you are a grandfather? It's very easy to say, "My time has passed. I'm never gonna be that good again."

These Rabbis, however, didn't use any of these excuses. They only become stronger throughout their lives. They never said, "When we were teenagers, we were learning 17 hours a day, but now we are only learning 15 hours a day." The younger Adam would embarrass the older Adam if the younger Adam were better at performing mitzvot. That would embarrass me. If I used to be better, then my years of youth would be embarrassing me in my years of elderly.

We see that the Rabbis were addressing two aspects of happiness when they proclaimed, "We thank our years of youth for not embarrassing us in our elderly years." They can regret their past, and they can resent their present (that it isn't as good as their past). But they did neither. They did not regret their past, because they made the most of their time. Similarly, they did not resent their present, because they only continued to grow.

May we all merit to these two satisfying feelings, never letting a minute go by without growing.

Chag Sameach!

Avraham Adam Sabzevari

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For questions, comments, criticisms, or suggestions, please email adamsabzevari@gmail.com. We are awaiting your feedback. :)

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