"I can't get no satisfaction" is
a.very
bad grammarb.
a song from some people's youth
and
c.an
unstated mantra for many who live today.
A beautiful gemara
flowing from the obligation to bentsch [found
in this week's parsha and according to many the only
Torah obligatory blessing] reminds us of a vastly
different Jewish ethic of satisfaction. First, the
pasuk
You will eat and be
satisfied,
and you will bless Hashem, your G-d,
for the
good land He has given you.
Note the Eretz Yisrael-food
connection, necessitating its mention in the Birkas
HaMazon [Grace after meals][1] - which may lead one
to wonder what eating a Tuna fish sandwich has to do
with the land of Israel. Note also that the Torah
obligation of birkas hamazon requires
satisfaction [1] - a mere k'zayis (olive size
measure ~1.1 oz.) of bread [for most] just won't do.
A famous and most
beautiful piece of Talmud confirms this point:[2]:
R. Avira taught:
The ministering angels said before God: Master of
the Universe, it is written in Your law, "(I am God)
that does not favor nor accepts bribes", but in
fact, do You not show favor to Israel, as it is
written,"The Lord shall show his favor towards you?"
He replied: And shall I not raise up My Face Israel,
for in my Torah I wrote:
And you
shall eat , be satisfied and bless the Lord,
your God, and they are particular [to bentsch]
if the quantity is but an olive,[ is but an egg]
A two tiered
obligation emerges: Rabbinically, one must
bentsch after a k'zayis of bread whilst
the Torah obligation commences with satisfaction.
The Rabbinic level of the Talmud has serious
benefits - for it invites special Divine grace.
Much about this Gemara
baffles. Rav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (1878-1966)
asks two basic questions:
1. If the obligation
to bentsch requires satisfaction and one is
not satisfied with a k'zayis, why is the Rabbinic
obligation not equivalent to a blessings made in
vain?
2. How has the gemara
solved its initial problem of God's favoritism? At
the end of the piece, God is still favoring His Jews
?
In previous year's we
have shared two approaches, the Vilna Gaon and Rav
Weinberg. Today we present a third, that of Rav
Shimon Schwab. In his lofty words can be found a
formula for living a satisfying life.
The whole notion of
the final blessing is for satisfaction [it is
for this reason that one does not make a final
blessing after smelling a fine aroma[2]...]
so here as well where is the satisfaction?
One must say that
it is possible to be satisfied with just a little
bit [cf. Rashi, Vayikra, 26:5]- "eat a little and
there will be blessing within his body". This will
be the future existence where they will be satisfied
with a little bit of eating; it is for this reason
that Rabbis established the bentsching on a small
amount of food
- for it
relates to the satisfaction that will be in the
future ... and since Yisrael are
insistent to bentsch for even an olive
- it is
as if they are living in this world with the
constant anticipation of the future world
; Therefore Hashem says "how can I not favor them"
-- for when the Torah speaks of not favoring that is
the conduct of this world - but in the future there
will be special treatment for those that have
merited the next world. For those that live in this
world already in the manner of the next, it is only
just that Hashem says about them he will treat them
in thi
Rav Schwab is speaking
from a high perch. With a geshmake
[delicious] corned beef sandwich, it is hard to
think about Olam HaBa. [Rye in the Sky?] - but his
notion is precious and is worthy of our
consideration - for the normal Jew, constantly lives
in this world with an eye to something greater. One
may even hypothesize that for much of the last
millennia, there was nothing else to really live
for.
In the deepest place
then, satisfaction comes to the one who learns to
live beyond the moment and the material. Consider:
He who can transcend the sudden urge to yell and
criticize, the momentary need to lie, and the
expeditious instinct to cheat awaits something far
more delicious; It is a world of the next world - a
world within and world beyond[3]
- the beautiful world of character development, of
deep and abiding relationships,
of learning deep Torah
- a world of
clinging to Hashem.
For those that live
such a life and for those that try, our opening song
is an ode to a bygone society - the best is yet to
come and is here all at the same time.
Wishing all a
Satisfying Shabbos
Good Shabbos,
Asher Brander
[1] Cf. Berachos 48b for the different
themes necessary in bentsching [bris,
malchus, Torah, eretz Yisroel, Yerushalayim,
sustenance]
[2] Cf. Rashi Nidah 52a s.v. reichani
[3] This may be the significance of the
Eretz Yisrael bentsching connection for the
land of Israel is the nexus between this
world and the next. Cf. Ramban, end of
Acharei Mos for explication of this idea.
Also the concept of Even Shesiya -
shemisham hushtas kol HaOlam ....
