Transcription
[Music] In Ethics of Our Fathers, chapter one, Mishna number two, it states that Shimon HaTzadik, he was from the leftovers or the remnants of the men of the Great Assembly, of the 120 men of the Great Assembly that was assembled by Ezra, Ezra the scribe. And he used to say, "The world stands upon three things: on Torah study, on Avodah, which is sacrifices and prayer, and acts of kindness, random acts of goodness and kindness." And also charity and good deeds. And "Gmilut" also alludes to the Mitzvah in general. So Shimon HaTzadik says, "These three things, the world stands upon three things: the study of Torah, prayer, and good deeds."
Learning this Mishna, many questions come to mind. Number one, why do we call him Shimon HaTzadik, Shimon the righteous? First of all, he was a Kohen Gadol, he was a High Priest. Why don't we call him Shimon, Shimon the High Priest? Why simply Shimon HaTzadik? Number two, it says that he was from the remnants of the Great Assembly. What's the point the Mishna is trying to tell us here? Thirdly, it says he used to say, if we say obviously he used to say, why furthermore he says three things. The world stands upon three things. Why do we need him to give us a number? He says the world stands upon Torah, prayer, and good deeds. Why the number three? And then he goes on to say specifically, what is the meaning of Torah, and what is the meaning of Avodah, and what is the meaning of Gemilut Chasadim?
To understand this on the level of Avodah, [Applause] first and foremost, who was Shimon HaTzadik? We find a statement in the Talmud that perhaps personifies who Shimon HaTzadik was. Shimon HaTzadik says in Yoma, page 17, he says, "In all my life, I never ate a sacrifice that was brought by a Nazir, a Nazirite who brought a sacrifice because he sinned by becoming impure while he was a Nazir." A Nazir is a person, a man or a woman, who makes a vow that they will no longer drink wine, they will no longer cut their hair, and they will no longer come in contact with a dead body. You could become a Nazir for 30 days, for one year, a lifetime. Says Rabbi Shimon, "In my days, I never ate a sacrifice that was brought by a Nazir who brought it because of a sin."
Being that a Nazir is not allowed to come in contact with a dead body, if he does, the law is that you have to start over again. You lose the days. So therefore, the concern was that, number one, this Nazir became a Nazir not because he was God-fearing, not because he wanted to become more spiritual, but perhaps he was an addict. He was addicted to wine, or he got angry and out of haste he made this vow. And because he made this vow out of haste, he wasn't really excited about it, and he wasn't careful to protect the rules of the vow, and now he came in contact with a dead body. And because he came in contact with a dead body, he lost days, he has to start all over again. And because of this, he's very upset and he brings a sacrifice, an offering, because of the fact that he came in contact with a dead body. So, we're concerned, says the Gemara, that perhaps he regrets becoming a Nazir in the first place. If that is the case, that he regrets becoming a Nazir in the first place, so therefore, the sacrifice that he brought is really not a sacrifice. It's it's a plain animal brought into the Holy Temple, which is a prohibition. And therefore, he was concerned not to eat from this animal because maybe the person who brought it regretted becoming a Nazir in the first place, and that's why he didn't keep to the laws of Nazir.
What does this tell us about Shimon HaTzadik? That he was a very consistent person. This Nazir was obviously very troubled. He was very confused. He changed his mind from day to day. One day he wanted to become a Nazir, he wanted to become spiritual and sever his connection with the physical everyday world, and the next day he regrets what he did, he wants to become more materialistic. Shimon HaTzadik was a person who was very consistent. He represented the epitome of consistency and balance. And so therefore, this was against his nature to eat a sacrifice that was brought by a Nazir who brought it out of making this mistake, out of haste and sinning by coming in contact with this dead corpse. And therefore, Rabbi Shimon, who represents balance and equilibrium, tells us how should a person bring balance into his life? How should a person live a life of equilibrium? Says Rabbi Shimon, by three things. Number one, through the study of Torah. Number two, through prayer. And number three, through acts of charity.
Torah study is not only for a Jew, or even for a non-Jew. A Noah also has the obligation to study the Bible and study about the unity of God. So the first thing is daily Torah study. And Torah was given to bring peace into the world. And by studying Torah, this is the first step in the direction of balance. Then you have prayer. The purpose of prayer is to take the knowledge of the Torah, the Mitzvot of the Torah, and think about it and contemplate it and internalize it. Because sometimes the idea might be too far-fetched. What do you mean, stop eating pork? What do you mean, I I can't drive on Shabbat? It could be a big shock. So therefore, you have to pray and ask God to give us the strength and the ability and the know-how and the stamina to be able to bring this knowledge that I just learned into action. And then once you meditate on this in prayer, then we go to the third level, which is Gemilut Chasadim, which is acts of goodness and kindness. And that means to apply what you studied. So number one is learning, number two is meditation, and number three is application. These are the three things which are the Synam that brings a person to this state of equilibrium and balance.
Another way to remember this is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham represents kindness. He had a tent that was open from all four sides, and wayfarers came in, and they ate, and he gave them food. So Abraham represents the epitome of kindness. That's Gemilut Chasadim. And then you have Isaac, who represents the concept of prayer. For today, prayer takes the place of sacrifices. As it says, Isaac went out to pray in the field. And then Jacob represents the concept of Torah study. Jacob was a man that sat all day in the tent and he studied the Torah. So through these three people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we have the three pillars upon which the world stands.
And the question is, if Abraham represents kindness, then kindness should have been first, and then Isaac, which is prayer, and then Jacob, which is the study of Torah. So there are numerous answers. One is that in the last generation, right before the coming of Mashiach, in our generation, the main focus has to be on Abraham, on on kindness, which is the giving of Tzedakah, because through Tzedakah we bring about the redemption. Another approach is that the first thing is Torah, because Torah is the most profound and has the greatest impact. As it says in the Talmud, that the heavenly tribunal follows the law of the judges down here in this world. So if there's a court case in this world, and the court gives a verdict and says guilty, then in heaven he's guilty. If the court down here says that the person was vindicated and the person is is good, the person is righteous, then in heaven it says he's also righteous. And therefore, by studying Torah, we create the reality of this world. Especially when we study the laws dealing with the coming of Mashiach and redemption, and that knowledge of Torah, that alone brings about the ultimate redemption. So this is this is the simple interpretation on these three levels.
Then we go to the hint. The hint represents how it's going to look when Mashiach comes. So we're told that the Torah that a Jew studies today, a person studies today, is only a fraction and nothing compared to the knowledge of Torah that one will have when Mashiach comes. As it says that there'll be a new Torah, a new revelation of Torah after the coming of Mashiach. And similarly, Avodah means sacrifices. Today we pray in the place of sacrifices. But when Mashiach will come, once again the Temple will be established, and therefore we'll have the true Avodah, the sacrifices, and the true service of the priests in the Holy Temple. And thirdly, kindness. In the world today, there's a lot of injustice, and there's a lot of suffering, and and a lot of violation of of of humanity and then to law, etc., etc. So therefore, the ultimate kindness will be when Mashiach comes, that God himself will do the ultimate kindness by taking us out of this exile and bringing about the redemption. So this is the hint to the world to come, the Olam HaBa.
Where do we find this concept in Torah? The Mishna is the oral law. And we say that everything in the oral law has to have its basis in the actual Five Books of Moses, in the Torah, or at least the 24 books of the Prophets. So where do we find this concept? In the Torah itself. So in the book of Deuteronomy, in the portion of Eikev, it says over there, "A person should always follow after God." And then it goes on to say, "You should do the Mitzvot." This alludes to acts of goodness and kindness. And then it goes on to say, "You shall hearken to his voice." This represents the Torah, which is God's voice. And finally, "Him shall you serve," represents prayer. As the Rambam says, what is called Avodah, "You shall serve God," that is the the working of the heart, which is prayer, to work on oneself and to refine oneself, to surrender oneself to Almighty God.
What is the concept of Gemilut Chasadim based on Kabbalah? In Kabbalah, we find that the way we translate this Mishna is that it says, "You should know," which means, "On three things," or "Because of three things, there is a concealment in the world." The world, or the word for world, etymologically, etymologically speaking, is the same as "Helem." Helem means concealment. In other words, why is there a concealment in the world? So that we should reveal God by doing these three things. As is brought down in the writings of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria in the Kitzur, that when God created the world, he first created a hole, a black hole. He removed all the light. He created a Helem, a concealment. And only after that did God bring to the world a ray of light in which he was able to create the world. Because if God would create the world with the full dose of light, there would be no room for humanity. It would be no room for free choice. And therefore, a man would not be able to do his service down here in this world. So therefore, how does one reveal God? By the fact that one studies Torah, which is the knowledge of God, and one prays to God, and then one gives charity. By these three things, one is able to remove the Helem, or reveal Godliness that is concealed.
And there's a statement in the Talmud that says, "A person should say every day, 'Every day one should say, because of me the entire world was created.'" On a simple level, this means that a person should look at the opportunity that there is in the world and therefore be productive. But based on Kabbalah, a person should say, "Because of me, the entire world is concealed. The concealment of the entire world was created because of me. And therefore, it's my job to reveal God in the world and to tell all the nations of the world how God truly exists." How do we do this? By the study of Torah, by spreading the knowledge of Torah, and by praying to the one God. And finally, by helping others, I mean doing acts of goodness and kindness.
How do we understand this on a level of Middot? We asked earlier, why is it that the Mishna tells us that Shimon HaTzadik, number one, was a Tzadik, and number two, that he was from the remnants of the men of the Great Assembly? So the answer is that Rabbi Shimon reveals the secret to balance in the world. And in truth, this is not only in the world as a whole, but in each individual. We have seven basic attributes, seven basic Middot. One is Chesed, kindness. The other one is Gevurah, severity, the opposite of kindness. So we have on one hand the ability to give, and we have the ability to hold back, to withdraw. What do we do? Do we give or do we take back? And the same is true when we talk about the world. It says, "God created the heavens and the earth." It doesn't say God created the world in six days, but rather God created six days. In other words, each day has its attribute. The first day, God created the attribute of kindness. Kindness is giving. And therefore, the first millennium, the first 1,000 years, was a time when people lived very, very long. Adam lived 930 years. It was a time of of kindness, unconditional love. Then he created Monday, day two. Day two is through Gevurah. That's why on day two, we find that God separated the waters. He created Malchut in the world. He created the divisiveness in the world. Day two, on the second millennium, God also brought the flood to the world. Then day three is Tiferet, beauty. This is the day that God caused the flowers to sprout. And this is the day when God gave us the Torah. In the third millennium, in the year 2448, God gave us the Torah that has positive and negative commandments. That's the beauty of the world. And then you have on the fourth day, Netzach. On Wednesday, God created the sun and the moon, representing the two Holy Temples. And then on Thursday, you have Hod. Hod represents destruction, the millennia of the Crusades. And then you have on the sixth day, God created Adam. God created man, which Adam represents Mashiach. In the sixth millennium are the days of Mashiach. This is the concept of Yichud, which is bonding, in contrast to the fifth day when he created the sea monsters, alluding to destruction and havoc in the world.
So each day represents a different Middah, each day represents a different attribute. And therefore, the world on its own is really very shaky. How does one make the world strong? How does one make the world tight? Comes up Rabbi Shimon, and says, "By doing these three things, we bring security to the world. We bring peacefulness to the world, and serenity to the world. And through these three things, we're able to reveal Godliness in this chaotic world." And the same is true with a person's lifestyle and a person's own dilemmas that he has in his life. How does one find peace and how does one find serenity? Says Rabbi Shimon, by the fact that a person studies Torah, by the fact that a person will do prayer and give charity. Through that, he will bring peace into the world. For the number three represents peace. One represents unique and only. Two represents divisiveness. Three represents compromise and peace. A chair with one leg cannot stand, and two also, more difficult. But three, already a chair with three legs has the ability to stand. And the same is true when a person has these three pillars in his life. He has not only the study of Torah, not only the prayer, and not only charity, but all three, a combination of all three. Then a person has the ability to bring this security and this strength into his daily life.
And that's why we find that because Rabbi Shimon represents this concept of security and consistency, the Gemara says that in the 40 years when he was the High Priest in the Holy Temple, the lot always came up on the right side. What does that mean? We know that in the Holy Temple, they had two goats. One goat was used for a sacrifice, and one was sent to the Azazel, was sent over the cliff. So they had a lot, they had a lottery, which goat should go onto the altar, and which goat should be thrown over the cliff. So sometimes, when the Kohen made the lot, the right one went on the altar, and the left one was thrown over. And sometimes it was the opposite. In the 40 years that Rabbi Shimon was the High Priest, the right side always was designated to go onto the altar, and the left one was always designated to go to the Azazel, was thrown over the cliff. Number two, it says when when they threw the goat over the cliff, they put on a crimson wool, the color red, which represents sin. And as they threw over the goat over the cliff, it transformed from the color red and turned white. This happened all 40 years when Rabbi Shimon was the Kohen. But other times, when other people were the Kohen, the High Priest, it didn't always happen. Because Rabbi Shimon had consistency. And thirdly, says the Gemara, that all the 40 years that Rabbi Shimon was the High Priest, the Ner HaMa'aravi, the western light in the Menorah, never went out. The Menorah had seven candles, and every evening the High Priest lit the Menorah, and in the morning, all six of the seven went out. Sometimes also the seventh went out. But all 40 years when Rabbi Shimon lit the Menorah, when Shimon HaTzadik lit the Menorah, even though all seven lamps had the same equal amount of oil, the western lamp never went out. That's one of the reasons why we have the Ner Tamid in the synagogue, a light that always burns to remind us of this candle that never went out in the Menorah, that God's presence always dwells amongst the Jewish people.
So because Rabbi Shimon represents this level of stability, therefore he comes along and says, "How does one create stability?" By doing these three things. And he was a Tzadik. We don't call him Kohen Gadol, but rather we say he was a Tzadik. What is a Tzadik? Is one who does Chesed for others. And it says in the Book of Psalms by King David, "God is righteous, and therefore He loves righteousness," in other words, acts of goodness and kindness. That Shimon HaTzadik wasn't only a person who cared about himself, that he should have balance in his life and he should have stability in his life, but he was a Tzadik, from the word Tzedakah, to give others, to help others learn the same secrets that he had, to be able to live a life, a life of peace and tranquility.
Furthermore, he goes on to say that he was from the remnants of the men of the Great Assembly. The men of the Great Assembly were 120 people. Why does the word assembly, Knesset HaGedolah, the word Knesset means K'neset Yisrael, to gather the dispersed. In other words, the men of the Great Assembly gathered all the dispersed and united them together. But being that they were 120 people, they were able to deal with every person on their level. But once they were gone, you only had one person. You had Shimon, Shimon HaTzadik. Now Shimon HaTzadik had to devise a plan that would be able to impact all of Israel universally, equally, and more than Israel, all humankind. So when the 120 men lived, and the people followed what they said, each one was able to receive their specific dose of what they needed. But now that there's only one person, and you have so many people in that generation, how does one person teach and and impact and control and help and inspire an entire nation and an entire world? So this was the brilliance of Rabbi Shimon, and he was able to create a methodology and a recipe that would bring stability and tranquility for every person, even though two Jews, three opinions. And then you have that one person living on a desert island where they have two synagogues, and then there's one synagogue that he goes to, and the other synagogue he'll never be caught dead in, still know how to create this plan and this and this device and this teaching that would be able to bring all of Israel together, to unite all of Israel, to unite the entire world, and bring remedy and stability and peace to everybody. And that was the brilliance of Shimon HaTzadik. And that's why we don't talk about him that he was a Kohen Gadol, of course he was a High Priest, but his unique quality was that he was a Tzadik, that he was concerned about the livelihood and and the health and the and the success of every individual. So this is the meaning according to Rabbi Shimon, that he was the righteous one that brought about this stability to all humankind.
And this brings about the story that in the year 330 before the Common Era, Alexander the Great was approaching Jerusalem, and he wanted to conquer Jerusalem. Shimon HaTzadik, Shimon the High Priest, put on all the eight garments of the Kohen Gadol, that is normally worn only in the Holy Temple, and he went out to meet Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great, seeing this great person coming towards him, he went off his horse and he bowed down to Shimon HaTzadik. When his servants were watching how Alexander the Great, the most powerful man in the world at that time, bowed down to this Jew, they asked the question, "Alexander the Great, why is it that you are bowing down to this person?" And he said, "This person, this is the image that I see when I go out to fight my battles. That image comes together with me, and because of that, I am successful." Now you know why I bow down to this person. And because of that, he spared Jerusalem, and there was peace in Jerusalem, and they had their autonomy, and they had their their own power, and they had the ability to study Torah and pray to God and to bring sacrifices and to do acts of goodness and kindness.
So this story, I believe, has many, many messages. Number one, it adds to the hint of the Messianic Era. A time when the great leaders of the world will bow down to Mashiach, to the leader of the Jewish people that will embody the Torah, that will embody spirituality and holiness. But number two, it also alludes to the fact that Mashiach will be a Melech u'Manhig. Mashiach will be two things. He will be a king, and he will also be a teacher. And here we find that Shimon HaTzadik wasn't only a Kohen Gadol, but he was also a teacher. He was the one that continued the link, continued the chain from Moshe Rabbeinu and Yehoshua and down to the men of the Great Assembly to the next generation. So not only was he a Godol, but also a teacher. And in addition to that, he was given the political leadership of his generation. In most cases, there was a political leader, there was a king, and then there was a Kohen Gadol. But Alexander the Great established that the Kohen Gadol should also have the temporal political power at that time. So in essence, Shimon HaTzadik embodies what he says he would say, because that was his essence. That's why he says, "How do we find these three qualities?" By Shimon HaTzadik. So number one, he was the Kohen Gadol, because he was the Kohen, he was the one that brought the sacrifices in the Holy Temple. That's Avodah. Number two, he was from the remnants of the men of the Great Assembly. He was the one that conveyed Torah to the whole generation. That's the second thing. And thirdly, acts of goodness and kindness. That's the role of a political leader, the role of a king, to make sure that his people have food, and they have shelter, and they have jobs. So these three qualities of Shimon HaTzadik, he truly had the right to say it because he lived it.
So when one studies this Mishna, and we study the Mishna not only between Passover and Shavuot, but throughout the entire seven months, as we go into the month of Elul before Rosh Hashanah, we are reminded that in the month of Elul, we should add to the study of Torah, and we should add to prayer, and we should add to good deeds. And by doing so, we emulate Shimon HaTzadik. And by emulating Shimon HaTzadik, we will bring people, even like Alexander the Great, to see the holiness of the Torah, and to see the spirituality of Godliness, and to truly bring peace to the entire world with the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days.