Sukkos Simchas Beis Shoeva 5778, @Avi Alter’s House

Everything and in of itself of this wonderful gathering which I thank each and every one of you for making the time for; everything is the inspiration, the suggestion, the organization, the devotion of Avraham and his Eishes Chayil in their characteristic way of operating, and I thank them very very much for everything and leave the rest unsaid, v'daye lachakima bir'miza. Maybe while the oilam enjoys the... can David bring a Madah, an Ahavah, and a Zmanim? So as a shliach of the baal habayis, so I encourage everyone to... The Rambam writes:

אף על פי שכל המועדות מצוה לשמוח בהן בחג הסוכות היתה שם במקדש שמחה יתירה שנאמר ושמחתם לפני ה' אלהיכם שבעת ימים.

The Rav comments—some others have also noted this—that there is a very basic machlokes between the Rambam and Rashi in understanding Simchas Beis Hasho'eiva, that Rashi in a couple of places in the sugyas in Sukkah refers to it as a simcha shel mitzvah. That kishmo kein hee, it was a simcha associated with the preparation for the mitzvah of nisuch hamayim, and if you have to classify or label the simcha, it was a simcha shel mitzvah. It's quite clear from the Rambam's introduction of

אף על פי שכל המועדות מצוה לשמוח בהן בחג הסוכות היתה שם במקדש שמחה יתירה

that the Rambam understands why it has the name Simchas Beis Hasho'eiva—maybe another time, not now—but the Rambam understands that Simchas Beis Hasho'eiva is under the rubric of simchas yom tov. And he writes that explicitly in Sefer Hamitzvos as well, in the mitzvah of v'samachta b'chagecha. So he says that the mitzvah also includes the dancing and the instrumentation in Mikdash as well, that that's a part of the mitzvah of v'samachta b'chagecha. All that notwithstanding that clear delineation within the shitas Harambam of Simchas Beis Hasho'eiva, it's very cryptic. What exactly the simcha is about? What's me'orer the simcha? מה טיבה של שמחה זו? What is its relationship to the mitzvah of simchas yom tov which is outside of Mikdash as well? So perhaps with a mashal. The Rambam in the beginning of Hilchos Tefilla:

מצות עשה להתפלל בכל יום שנאמר ועבדתם את ה' אלהיכם. מפי השמועה אמרו שעבודה זו היא תפלה. ונאמר ולעבדו בכל לבבכם, אמרו חכמים איזו היא עבודה שבלב זו תפלה.

Kayadu'a, the Gemara in Taanis, the Sifrei. Avoda shebalev refers to tefilla. And that's the mitzvah d'oraisa for the Rambam of davening at least once daily. But there is an amazing perspective to be had on this mitzvah. The Rambam returns to this maima chazal elsewhere as well. He writes as follows: HaTorah hifhira, the Torah... clarifies, the Torah enlightens us, שהעבודה האחרונה הזאת, that the ultimate avodah, the ultimate in avodas Hashem, shehi שהשבנו את תשומת הלב אליו בפרק זה, that we focused attention on in this chapter, לא תהיה אלא אחרי ההשגה. The ultimate avodah, as will become clear, the Rambam's going to remind and reiterate for us what that is, is only possible after a person has a high degree of hasagas Elokus, of apprehending Hakadosh Baruch Hu, whatever that means for human being.

הוא אמר לאהבת ה' אלוהיכם ולעבדו בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם.

So le'ovdo bechol levavchem comes on the heels of ahava, le'ahavas Hashem Elokeichem, and then sequentially, then it will be possible to be mekayem the tzivuy ועבדו בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם. וכבר הבהרנו כמה פעמים, we've already explained many times, most famously in Hilchos Teshuva, שהאהבה לפי מידת ההשגה. That ahava is in direct proportion to one's hasaga, one's understanding, one's apprehension. אחרי האהבה תבוא אותה העבודה. After a person attains a darga of avodas Hashem, then this avodah comes, shegam hachachamim zal, listen to this rabbosai, it's extraordinary, שגם החכמים ז''ל האירו עליה ואמרו זו עבודה שבלב. The Rambam's talking about לעבדו בכל לבבכם זו עבודה שבלב, right? That we know that the Rambam quotes for us from the Gemara in Taanis, from the Sifrei, that it refers to tefillah. But now the Rambam says it means something else, seemingly different. Vhi ldaati. What is avodah shebalev? He has a maybe not just as a parenthetical but more introductory. The Rambam tells us and you see often that he interprets this way, that one of the meanings of lev... we generally, our immediate reaction when we hear the word lev is heart, and that's certainly is its a basic meaning, the basic meaning, but it also means mind for the Rambam. The Rambam in perek beis of Hilchos Avodah Zarah when he talks about לא תסורו אחרי לבבכם, talks about that a person has to be intellectually disciplined. That's how the Rambam understood how the Gemara Berachos can say לא תסורו אחרי לבבכם זו מינות. Because lev doesn't mean the heart in that context, the seat of desire, but it means the mind, which is the seat of thought. ואמרו זוהי עבודה שבלב והיא לדעתי. So again now the Rambam here is defining for us what avodah shebalev is. והיא לדעתי הפעלת המחשבה, activating and concentrating and focusing one's thought על המושכל הראשון וההתבודדות לשם זאת במידת היכולת. To be focused on and contemplating Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

לכן מוצא אתה שדוד ציווה לשלמה והדגיש לפניו את שני אלה,

to hishtadel eileh lehasig hasechel and B,

ולהשתדל לעבדו אחר ההשגה. והוא אמר ואתה שלמה בני דע אלהי אביך ועבדהו.

So here the Rambam tells us that the pshat of avodah shebalev means that one's thoughts, one's mind is constantly davuk beHakadosh Baruch Hu. So what emerges remarkably according to the Rambam is that the mitzvah of avodah shebalev is a two-tiered mitzvah. What it means in its ultimate sense, again, is לאהבת ה' אלוהיכם ולעבדו, that a person is so the yedias Hashem that a person has attained, he's so enthralled, so totally focused, preoccupied upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. that u'le'ovdo be'chol levavchem that his mind is constantly focused upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that's what avodah she'ba'lev means in its ultimate sense. But then, and and this is, it gives such a provides such a remarkable perspective on the mitzvah of tfillah. Recognizing full well that that madrega is is one that while we all hopefully be'ezrat Hashem aspire to and and and work towards, is obviously a very, very lofty madrega. The mitzvah of tfillah bez'eir anpin provides a dimension of this mitzvah which is accessible to each and every one of us. Instead of this constant, ideally uninterrupted focus upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so tfillah says chotch for a few moments a person is is focused on the Ribbono Shel Olam. And it's bez'eir anpin. What it means is that even, even we who are not holding by לאהבת ה' אלוקיכם ולעבדו בכל לבבכם in its ultimate sense, but even we partake of the mitzvah on its lower tier. Yitachen that that also points to a, or maybe partially a very difficult lashon here in Hilchos Tfillah in Halacha Beis. The Rambam says:

אלא חיוב מצוה זו כך הוא שיהיה אדם מתפלל ומתחנן בכל יום ומגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם בבקשה ובתחינה ואחר כך נותן שבח והודיה להשם.

Again:

אלא חיוב מצוה זו כך הוא שיהיה אדם מתפלל ומתחנן בכל יום ומגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ואחר כך שואל צרכיו ואחר כך,

I skip a few words, נותן שבח והודיה להשם. So what's, what's so challenging about the lashon of Rambam is he presents mispallel u'mitchanen as something discrete, or at least conceptually discrete, from the shevach, bakasha, and hoda'ah. No, that is the tfillah, right? If, if we're asked to define what tfillah is, so we all know that for the Rambam, again, not only is tfillah once a day d'oraisa, but the structure of tfillah, the shevach bakasha v'hoda'ah is also d'oraisa. So it's not mispallel ומגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, there shouldn't be a vav hachibur there. It's i.e., dehainu, klomar, what it means to daven. So yitachen that that in light of the Sefer Rambam the pshat is what it really means to daven is to think about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That a person, again, we're not holding by the u'le'ovdo be'chol levavchem, the ultimate level of avodah she'ba'lev, but the level of avodah she'ba'lev that the Torah does expect of us, does invite us to participate in is chotch for a few moments to be mispallel mitchanen means to be thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's conceptually, that's the definition of the mitzvah. Tachlis, okay, so tachlis how do I organize my thoughts? How, what in what direction should they go? So tachlis: magid shevacho, sho'el tzrachov, noten hoda'ah. But conceptually it's something discrete, conceptually it's something different. Al kol panim, so by mitzvas tfillah you see that there's such a thing as a call it a two-tiered mitzvah. Avodah she'ba'lev, again in its lower tier, its universal democratic tier, means to daven, means to be misboded with Hakadosh Baruch Hu at least pa'am achas ba'yom, at least for, for a few moments. That's, that's the lower tier. The ultimate tier of, of of avodah she'ba'lev is to be constantly, one's machshava, one's seichel is constantly dovek dovek b'Hakadosh Baruch Hu. In Perek Vav of Hilchos Yom Tov,

כשאדם אוכל ושותה ושמח ברגל לא יימשך ביין ובשחוק ובקלות ראש ויאמר שכל מי שיוסיף בזה ירבה במצות שמחה שהשכרות והשחוק והרבה וקלות הראש אינה שמחה אלא הוללות וסכלות ולא נצטווינו על ההוללות והסכלות אלא על השמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל שנאמר תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלהיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב.

So it's possible that this ולא נצטווינו על ההוללות והסכלות, not frivolity, אלא על השמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל. Within the simcha, there's avodas yotzer hakol. But notice what the Rambam doesn't say. Notice where he doesn't set the bar. He doesn't say that the entire simcha mitechilaso ve'ad sofo, the entire mahus of the simcha is all. No, the mahus of the simcha is a nice piece of meat and a nice bottle of wine and the geshmak that a person gets from the basar veyayin. Ella mai, that has to be sheyeish bah, there has to be that that helps to me'orer a person to avodas yotzer hakol. But it's not that the level of simcha that the Rambam is describing here is this. You could not cut and paste this into a biography of the Chofetz Chaim, you could not cut and paste this into a biography of Rav Chaim. שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל. Le'umas zeh, the final halacha in Hilchos Lulav, again as you recall,

השמחה שישמח אדם בעשיית המצוה ובאהבת האל שצוה בהן עבודה גדולה היא.

Again,

השמחה שישמח אדם בעשיית המצוה ובאהבת האל שצוה בהן עבודה גדולה היא. וכן דוד מלך ישראל,

skipping a few lines,

אמר ונקלותי עוד מזאת והייתי שפל בעיני ואין הגדולה והכבוד אלא לשמוח לפני ה' שנאמר והמלך דוד מפזז ומכרכר לפני ה'.

So generally we say pshat here that the Rambam sort of derech gilgul was metzaref, he takes, he allows himself a certain latitude kayadua sometimes at the end of halachos. So really what he's talking about here is something very different from what he's been talking about until now, right? Until now he's been talking about simchas yom tov and now he's talking where the mitzvah gufa is the simcha. And here in the last halacha he's talking about simcha as the tzurah, as a modality of kiyum hamitzvos, not as an independent mitzvah, השמחה שישמח אדם בעשיית המצוה ובאהבת האל שצוה בהן. So it's derech gilgul. There's a common denominator. As Rav Shechter likes to say, מענין לענין שלא באותו ענין, not entirely be'oso inyan. But ella mai, lichora the correct pshat is no, what the Rambam is saying is simcha in a way that's similar but not identical to the mitzvah of avodah shebelev, also is a two-tiered mitzvah. The basic level of simchas yom tov is what the Rambam describes and defines in Hilchos Yom Tov, שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל. Notice here when the Rambam describes the simcha of Simchas Beis Hashoeiva,

והיאך היתה שמחה זו החליל מכה ומנגנין בכינור ובנבלים ובמצילתים. מצילתיים וכל אחד ואחד בכלי שיר שהוא יודע לנגן בו ומי שיודע בפה בפה.

Notice this next string of verbs:

ורוקדין ומספקין ומטפחין ומפזזין ומכרכרין כל אחד ואחד כמו שיודע. ורוקדין ומספקין ומטפחין ומפזזין ומכרכרין כל אחד ואחד כמו שיודע.

So it's quite clear that the Rambam intentionally is transposing the description of Dovid HaMelech of mifazez and mekarker, that he's transposing that to his description of Simchas Beis Hasho'eiva. And Dovid HaMelech the Rambam quotes as an illustration, as an embodiment of a simcha which is, flows from, and is a pure expression of Ahavas Hashem. השמחה שישמח אדם באהבת הקל שציווה בהן. So the pshat is that what the Rambam is telling us is that Simchas Yom Tov also is a two-tiered mitzvah. Its basic tier which applies to all of us is described in Hilchos Yom Tov. Right, the mishna tells us, the mishna in Sukkah tells us and the Rambam albeit with a somewhat expanded elaborated description:

לא היו עושין אותה עמי הארץ וכל מי שירצה אלא גדולי חכמי ישראל וראשי הישיבות והסנהדרין והחסידים והזקנים ואנשי מעשה הם שהיו מרקדין ומספקין ומנגנים ומשמחים במקדש בימי חג הסוכות אבל כל העם האנשים והנשים כולן באין לראות ולשמוע.

So if it's Simchas Yom Tov, so why is it restricted to this elite group of גדולי חכמי ישראל וכולי? So le'chora heim heim hadevarim. This tier, this darga of Simchas Yom Tov, which the Torah is metzaveh in Mikdash in the shivas yemei hachag, is not just a שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל, but a simcha which is kulo kulo nova'as and expresses Ahavas Hashem. Only someone who's relevant to that can exhibit and participate in that simcha. Maybe we'll continue a little bit more later bli neder, another he'ora, but just to end this part, ad kan just in terms of pshat in, hopefully, in the words of the Rambam. Yitachen that our minhag of making a Simchas Beis Hasho'eiva reflects our aspiration to that level and that expression of simcha which was present and which was manifest in Mikdash.

מי שלא ראה שמחת בית השואבה לא ראה שמחה מימיו.

Umaschilin lismo'ach says the Rambam

ממוצאי יום טוב הראשון וכן בכל יום ויום מימי חולו של מועד מתחילין מאחר שיקריבו תמיד של בין הערביים לשמוח שאר היום עם כל הלילה. והיאך היתה שמחה זו החליל מכה ומנגנין בכינור ובנבלים ובמצילתיים וכל אחד ואחד בכלי שיר שהוא יודע לנגן בו מי שיודע בפה בפה ורוקדין ומספקין ומטפחין ומפזזין ומכרכרין כל אחד ואחד כמו שיודע.

The description in the Rambam and in the Chazals, whether it's how far the light from the menorahs that they lit in the Simchas Beis Hasho'eiva spread, the explosion of energy, the extraordinary intensity... the physical feats, there was something otherworldly about the description of Simchas Beis HaShoeiva. Otherworldly. Pesher hadavar, a few moments ago we were discussing how Simchas Beis HaShoeiva is a simcha which is kol kula an expression of, flows from Ahavas Hashem. The otherworldliness of Chazal's description of Simchas Beis HaShoeiva, of the Rambam's description of Simchas Beis HaShoeiva, is intended to reflect the fact that a person who's zoche to that madreiga of Ahavas Hashem, his metzius is a different metzius. And that's what it means,

כל מי שלא ראה שמחת בית השואבה לא ראה שמחה מימיו.

It's from a different dimension. It belongs to a different world. It belongs to a different dimension of existence. The braisa says that during those days, כאילו לא ראינו שינה בעינינו. They would be misnamnem a little bit here, a little bit there. They couldn't defy the ג' ימים בלא שינה. That the Gemara says they couldn't defy. But they transcended the normal boundaries and limitations because those people who are zoche to Ahavas Hashem don't live in the same world we live in. They live in a different world. And that's what the otherworldliness of Simchas Beis HaShoeiva reflects. Maybe let's try a little bit to understand what that means incrementally. We live in a physical world and our commitment to Torah mitzvos consists of our introducing into our physical world, koveia itim, we try to learn a little bit, mekayem mitzvos, but in this, very much in עולם הזה המוחשתי הגופני. By those who are ohavei Hashem, and if you have or have had the zchus of knowing those rare individuals, you've seen it bechush. It's different. That's not how their avodas Hashem expresses itself. Let's begin with a mashal. Again, we're trying to move incrementally, piecemeal, to understand a little bit. We have our minyan on Shabbos in an empty storefront. I'd like to think, I haven't taken a poll, that when you walk in. that you don't feel like you're in a storefront because the furnishings are those which reflect the shul. There's an Aron Kodesh. There's a shulchan in the middle. Tables, chairs, bookcases with seforim, a mechitzah for ezras nashim. If we would take out the tashmishei kedusha and tashmishei mitzvah and bring back in the work desks, the telephones, the computers, so then takeh one would have the sense of coming into a store, coming into a storefront.

דבר ידוע וברור שאין אהבת הקדוש ברוך הוא נקשרת בלבו של אדם עד שישגה בה תמיד כראוי ויעזוב כל שבעולם חוץ ממנה כמו שציווה ואמר בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך.

The ohev Hashem, his world is not furnished. The furnishings of his world don't consist of ta'anugim and they don't consist of kesef ve'zahav and kavod and careerism. נפשו חשקה בתורה ומצוות, צמאה נפשי לאלוקים חי. It's a different space. It's a different world. But the emes is that that's not really the pshat in לא ירדנו בזה לעומקן של דברים of what it means that an ohev Hashem lives in a different world. He lives in a different dimension of existence. Let's begin with what's a little bit of a mashal. Rambam describes the path of the navi.

חכם גדול בחכמה גיבור במידותיו לא יהא יצרו מתגבר עליו בדבר בעולם אלא הוא מתגבר בדעתו על יצרו תמיד ובעל דעה רחבה נכונה עד מאד שיכנס לפרדס וימשך באותן העניינות הגדולים והרחוקים ותהיה לו דעת נכונה להבין ולהשיג והוא מתקדש והולך ופורש מדרכי כלל העם ההולכים במחשכי הזמן והולך ומזרז עצמו ומלמד נפשו שלא תהיה לה מחשבה כלל באחד מדברים בטלים ומבלי הזמן ותחבולותיו אלא דעתו תמיד פנויה למעלה קשורה תחת הכיסא להבין באותן הצורות הקדושות הטהורות ומסתכל בחכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא כולה מצורה ראשונה עד טבור הארץ ויודע מהם גדלו ומיד רוח הקודש שורה עליו.

Now let's notice this next sentence especially.

ובעת שתנוח עליו הרוח תתערב נפשו במעלת המלאכים הנקראים אישים וייהפך לאיש אחר ויבין בדעתו שאינו כמו שהיה אלא שנתעלה על מעלת שאר בני אדם החכמים.

So nevuah the Rambam depicts is not an experience; it is not just a spike in the graph. Yehafech le'ish acher. תתלהב נפשו במעלת המלאכים. To sort of underscore the point a little bit more, it's helpful to juxtapose Uvame yipardu hatzurot the Rambam writes in Perek Bet, זו מזו והרי אינן גופין? The different levels of malachim. So how are they distinct? So ordinarily we sort of people are distinct in terms of we're physically delimited and that sort of delineates one individual and differentiates one individual from another. But when you're talking about spiritual beings, ובמה יפרדו הצורות זו מזו ואינן גופין? Answers the Rambam, לפי שאינן שוין במציאותם. Each one is a different metziut. And then he says, שינוי שמות המלאכים על שם מעלתם הוא. So it's clear then when you juxtapose these two, the Rambam is telling us is that the navi, his existence changed; he now exists on a different level than he did until this point. Okay, but that's a navi. We're talking about an oved Hashem, lav davka that he's a navi; he's certainly a chacham gadol, lav davka that he's a navi. So the Rav writes towards the end of Ish Hahalacha:

האדם מתקיים לפעמים רק בזכותו של המין, משום שהוא נולד ובא מאותו המין והסוג, וצורת הכלל חקוקה בו.

Sometimes a person exists just as another instance of that species, such a species as human beings. And a person sometimes exists just by the laws of biology and biological classification. He's a person.

האדם מתקיים לפעמים רק בזכותו של המין, משום שהוא נולד ובא מאותו המין והסוג.

He has human parents and mimeila that's who he is. הרי הוא קיים משום השתתפותו בידיעת הכלליות. He exists only because again he's part of that genus, that species. הרי הוא בן אדם. The Rav is ma'arich, Zehu ish hamin. Beram,

ישנו אדם שאינו זקוק לעזרת אחרים לתמיכת המין בנוגע להוייתו.

Some individuals, they're not human by virtue just of birth, by virtue of being the progeny of human parents, because of the laws of biology.

אדם זה יצא מרשות הזמן ונכנס לרשות עצמו. אין הוא קיים בזכות המין.

He doesn't exist, he's not human, you don't confer upon him the label and the classification of being human just because he belongs to this general group, this genus, אלא משום ערכו הפרטי, because of his individual value. Yesh bechayav within his life mipo'ulat hayetzira vehachidush. Within his life there is... calling is, what his destiny can be, what his obligation is, what his function is, הוא תופס את כל השניות שבישותו, he understands the duality of his existence, ואת הבחירה המסורה בידו, skipping a few lines, הרי הוא מתגעגע וכמהה אל קל חי. So this is not ish hamin, this is not, again, just one more carbon copy of humans, zehu ish ha'elokim. כשאדם יוצר את עצמו, listen to the words, rabosai, when a person creates himself,

כשאדם יוצר את עצמו בתור איש האלוקים ומפסיק את קיומו בתור איש המין,

and terminates that passive existence only again as a nondescript member of the species, הרי הוא מקיים את המצוה הטמונה בעיקר ההשגחה. And that's the secret and underpinnings to the Rambam's whole approach to hashgacha. So this idea of entering a different realm of existence is not limited to the navi. In its highest form, it's present in the navi. In the mashal we gave about the furnishings, it's not so much the space is really the same, it was just a different focus. The real pshat is, no, it's takeh a different level of existence. A person who's oved et hashem, a person who's

מסתכל בחכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא כולה מצור ראשונה עד טבור הארץ,

he doesn't see what we see. What we see is disjointed, disconnected. He sees a world of elokus. He lives in a different world. He lives in a different dimension of existence. When chazal talk about לא ראה שמחה מימיו, לא ראינו שינה בעינינו, that Rabban Shimon Gamliel by simchas beis hasho'eiva performed physical feats that would render Olympic gymnasts rachmana litzlan lame for life, it's all expressing this idea of the otherworldliness of simchas beis hasho'eiva because it was a world, it was a dimension of existence of ohavei hashem. And as beautiful and as sweet as torah is in our world, light years removed from that world. As sweet as it is, as wonderful as it is, as extraordinary as it is, ein leshashvos, ein lesha'er, that sweetness, that beauty, that wonderful quality which defines this other dimension of existence.