Geulah b’Rachamim Program, Volume 3, Essay #4: Na’aseh v’Nishma – By Pinchas Winston
“Na’aseh v’nishma—We will do, and we will understand.” (Shemos 24:7)
Most of the time, people do not promise to do something before they understand what they have to do. But when the Jewish people put “Nishma” first, it was not “most times.” It was at Har Sinai, and in response to an offer made by God Himself. It’s surprising that they said “Nishma” at all.
It was a spectacularly awesome moment in history, one to which no person since can relate to. THEY had witnessed the systematic destruction of the mightiest nation on earth through miraculous 10 plagues. THEY had watched the mighty sea split for them and drown the Egyptian army. THEY ate bread that fell from Heaven, and THEY had defeated Amalek. This alone should have put them in a “Na’aseh v’Nishma” mode.
It had certainly transformed them. We know because the Torah tells us this:
They traveled from Refidim and came to the Sinai Desert, and they camped in the desert. THEY (written: HE) camped opposite the mountain. (Shemos 19:2)
HE camped opposite the mountain: k’ish echad, b’leiv echad—like a single person with a single heart. (Rashi)
A people does not reach such a sublime level of national unity with a yetzer hara—evil inclination. With a yetzer hara, a person tends towards selfishness, even if only slightly. The level of “b’leiv echad” requires complete selflessness, and with it one can easily say “Na’aseh” before “Nishma.”
Only then can hearts be so united, not just between people, but even within a single person:
“And you will love God your God b’chol levavecha—with all your heart.” (Devarim 6:5)
With both of your inclinations, the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination. (Brochos 54a)
We learn this from the word “levavecha,” spelled Lamed-Bais-Bais-Chof. One letter Bais would have been enough to make the point. Therefore, two letters make two points, to serve God with our yetzer tov AND our yetzer hara. When we said “Na’aseh v’Nishma,” we did exactly that.
It’s all about the heart. The mind is an integral part of any person, but it is the heart that defines the nature of relationships, especially between man and God. This is why it says:
He said to them: “Go out and see what is a straight path that a person should cling to.”
Rebi Eliezer said: “A good eye.”
Rebi Yehoshua said: “A good friend.”
Rebi Yosi said: “A good neighbor.”
Rebi Shimon said: “Seeing the consequences of one’s actions.”
Rebi Elazar said: “A GOOD HEART.”
He said to them: “I see the words of Rebi Elazar ben Arach [as better than] all of yours, because your words are included in his.” (Pirkei Avos 2:9)
In fact, it is precisely this, a GOOD heart, that a person is supposed to develop in advance of Shavuos, during the Omer. There are 32 days in advance of Lag B’Omer, which is the gematria of the word “leiv,” or “heart.” There are exactly 17 days AFTER Lag B’Omer until Shavuos, the gematria of the word “good.” Thus, Lag B’Omer seems to be some kind of spiritual threshold over which a person crosses in order to transform their “leiv” into a “leiv TOV.”
Fascinatingly, the 33rd word in the Torah happens to be the word “tov,” and it is used in connection with the “Ohr HaGanuz,” the Supernal Light of Creation:
God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light. God saw that the light was GOOD . . . (Bereishis 1:3-4)
Even more fascinating is how, on the 33rd day of the Omer, Rebi Shimon bar Yochai revealed the Zohar on his last day of life. The Zohar is the basis of the Kabbalistic tradition, the most sublime form of the Ohr HaGanuz—Hidden Light—available to man. The implication is that it is THIS level of light that somehow results not just in a heart, but a GOOD heart.
This is certainly what did it for the Jewish people of Moshe Rabbeinu’s time. Moshe Rabbeinu himself was a conduit for the Ohr HaGanuz, and all the miracles he performed were with this spectacular light. They were not called “Dor HaDayah—Generation of Knowledge—for no reason. And yet, all of it happened before the Torah was even given.
So, then, what was the big deal in the end? What did the Jewish people do that was so praiseworthy? Of course the Jewish people spoke like angels when God offered them Torah. They WERE like angels. Of course they spoke impetuously. They couldn’t wait to show God how devoted they had become to Him after all they had experienced. Take away the yetzer hara from anyone and it becomes the most NATURAL thing for them to want to serve God:
Rav Alexandri, upon concluding his prayer, used to add the following: “Master of the Universe, it is known full well to You that our desire is to perform Your will. What prevents us? The ‘yeast in the dough’. . .” (Brochos 17a)
Digressing for a moment, the Pri Tzaddik makes an interesting comment regarding “Na’aseh v’Nishma.” He says that when the Jewish people allowed the golden calf to be built, they “broke” Na’aseh, but not Nishma. Building the calf was an illicit act, a violation of “We will do,” that is, only what we are PERMITTED to do. We were NOT permitted to build an idol of ANY kind.
However, since the Jewish people did not think for a moment that the calf was any kind of god (as hard as the Erev Rav tried to convince them otherwise), they did not violate “We will hear.” Capitulating to the whim of the Erev Rav had been only an “external” failing, not an “internal” one. Their hearts, in spite of the calf, never stopped belonging to God.
This is why, the Pri Tzaddik explains, the descendants of Eisav have had power over the Jewish people throughout history. “Na’aseh” was what would have protected us from Eisav, whose name also comes from the same word “la’asos,” which means “to do.”
However, since “Nishma” was not “broken,” it has remained our spiritual protection against the descendants of Yishmael, whose name comes from the word “lishmoa,” which means “to listen.” Yishmael has certainly not been kind to the Jews over the millennia, far from it. But, they have also been unable to do to the Jewish people, though try as they have, what the descendants of Eisav have done, most recently, the Holocaust.
According to the Pri Tzaddik, “Nishma” is about more than just listening or understanding. It’s about loyalty. It’s about the giving over of a person’s heart, or one’s soul to God. “Na’aseh” is about making the body do what it should, even if only mechanically. It is the heartless service of God—“mitzvas anashim melumada”—mitz-vos performed by rote. “Nishma” is the “soul” that gives mitzvos their life.
This creates an important connection to the contribution of Kabbalah to the development of a “leiv TOV”:
Mishnah and Gemora are the level of the body of Torah. The secrets of Kabbalah are the level of the soul of Torah. Therefore, most of the words of Chazal in “Shas” are closed and dark like a dream. Their reasons and depth are revealed only through the mysteries of Torah, upon which all the words of Shas are based. (Da’as Elokim, Introduction)
This is the main rectification of learning Kabbalah more than any other area of Torah learning. For, the rest of the areas of Torah learning are “clothed” in matters of this world, which is not the case with Kabbalah, and particularly the words of the Arizal, who built upon the “Ideres” and “Sifra d’Tzniusa,” and the other secret sections of the holy Zohar. All of its matters deal only on the level of “Atzilus” and the worlds of the light of “Ain Sof.” (Drushei Olam HaTohu, Chelek 1, Drush 5, Siman 7, Anaf 8)
In essence, it is the difference between living on the level of “Good-and-Evil,” as we do everyday, and the level of “True-and-False,” as we once did prior to eating from the Aitz HaDa’as Tov v’Ra—the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. On the level of Good-and-Evil, there is room for doubt and rationalization. “Good people,” can do not so good things.
On the level of True-and-False however, there is no doubt, and therefore, no room for rationalization. The yetzer hara melts away, and there is only loyalty and devotion. This is why Kabbalah is called “Toras Moshiach,” the Torah of the Messianic era, when the yetzer hara will be gone and the world, once again, will be on the level of True-and-False. “Nishma” will just be a fact of life, as it became when the Jewish people first said, “Na’aseh v’Nishma.”
In fact, when the Jewish people said these two words, they returned back to the level of Adam HaRishon before the sin. They reached the level of True-and-False, which is why they became immortal. Had it not been for the Erev Rav, who like the snake in the Garden of Eden drew the Jewish people from their high level, the Messianic Era would have begun then and there.
Therefore, when the Jewish people said “Na’aseh,” they meant that all of their actions will be for the sake of Heaven. When they said “Nishma,” they said that they were ready to live on the level of “True-and-False,” to rid the world of doubt, and to become totally devoted to the will of God. For THAT, they were VERY praiseworthy.
As mentioned previously, the fourth and final exile of Rome has ended. This does not mean that anti-Semitism is over, or that descendants of Eisav will no longer try to hurt Jews. That won’t end until Moshiach ends it.
But it is “Yishmael” who has moved front-row-and-center in the war against the Jewish people. It is the descendants of Yishmael who are leading the fight against the descendants of Yitzchak. They just know how to manipulate “Edom” to join their cause and help with their wars.
We never really repaired “Na’aseh,” and have paid the price in untold amounts of blood over the centuries through countless pogroms and unimaginable genocide. But the era of “Na’aseh” came to an end when Golus Edom did. Yishmael and his supporters control the scene today to a large degree, at least as far as the Jewish people are concerned. It is the era of “Nishma.”
This is reason enough to learn Kabbalah. But, apparently, there is an additional reason to do so, especially at the End-of-Days:
In these final generations, the generations of the “Footsteps of Moshiach,” the obligation to be involved with the mysteries of Torah is double, for two reasons. The first reason is the tremendous revelation of this wisdom that has occurred throughout this period of the Footsteps of Moshiach, as mentioned: “And, as the days of Moshiach approach, even the masses will be able to find hidden mysteries of this wisdom” (Zohar, Vayaira 118a). The second reason is that the learning of Zohar during the “Chevlei Moshiach”—the “birth pangs of Moshiach —sweeten [the Heavenly judgment] and hasten the redemption, as it is explained: “Since, in the future, the Jewish people will taste from the ‘Tree of Life,’ which is this ‘Sefer HaZohar,’ they will be redeemed from exile in mercy” (Zohar, Naso 124b). (Da’as El-okim, Introduction)
True, but here’s the problem. It’s like being told that redemption exists on the other side of a sea, but there is no means to get there. The boat is gone, the water is too rough to swim, and short of a miracle, there is no way to cross such a large body of water. How many people are qualified to learn Kabbalah, or can even if they wanted to?
There are basically three options. The first is the most obvious and perhaps the least likely. Everyone who wants to be mercifully spared the deadly effects of Chevlei Moshiach should now dive head first into the Zohar and start seriously learning it every waking moment they have. As I said, obvious, but not likely.
The second option is to throw caution to the wind. Realize that the task is greater than most people can face and abandon yourself to the inevitability of having to live through, hopefully, the War of Gog and Magog, etc. It is not an easier option per se, but it is a more likely one.
The third option is more interesting. It is certainly not obvious and perhaps, in the case of many, not very likely. But, it may be the most practical one for many who are not fortunate to learn Torah from level to level as should be done, and find the time and ability to journey through the realm of Kabbalah. In Kabbalistic terms it is, for all intents-and-perhaps, “kevitzas haderech”—a short cut.
A question whose answer has been debated now for over a thousand years is, did the Rambam learn Kabbalah? We know that the Ramban did, because he references it many times in his writings. But, the Rambam did not, and he lived in a time when Kabbalistic teachings were not so widespread, or even credible. There is plenty of good reason to assume that the Rambam did NOT learn Kabbalah, at least until the end of his life.
Then why say that he might have? Because, anyone who knows Kabbalah and has learned the more philosophical aspects of the Rambam’s teachings, will find ideas and statements that certainly sound Kabbalistically-based. Perhaps the Rambam DID learn Kabbalah, but chose to mask such knowledge in everyday parlance, especially since Kabbalah in his time was still controversial, and he was writing for the common man.
Hence the argument. If the Rambam DID learn Kabbalah, then why is it not more obvious from his writings as it is from those of the Ramban? If he did NOT learn Kabbalah, then how was he able to know so many Kabbalistic concepts?
The argument basically ended with the Arizal. He explicitly stated that the Rambam did NOT learn Kabbalah, explaining that it had to do with the root of his soul. If so, two questions remain. Firstly, if the Rambam in fact did not learn Kabbalah, then how did he come to know so many Kabbalistic ideas? Secondly, if soul root makes such a difference to what a person can or cannot learn, then MANY people are not relevant to learn it as well. What are all of them supposed to do to avoid what those who CAN learn Kabbalah will “naturally” do?
There is really one answer for both questions, and it comes from the Talmud. The truth is, its from Tehillim, which the Talmud quotes to make its point. Really, it is something many already know and believe, but it makes the idea more credible when the Talmud mentions it.
During a Talmudic discussion, a certain rabbi answers a question with information that, the Talmud says, he could not have learned from personal experience. How did he come to know it, the Talmud asks. It answers with a verse from Tehillim:
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The secrets of God to those who fear Him. (Tehillim 25:14)
They are only three words in Hebrew, but they mean so much. SO much. They are a magical key, hidden in PLAIN sight, to achieve so much more than one’s time or ability may PHYSICALLY allow. The only thing that keeps them from allowing us to benefit from them is our lack of belief in what they tell us.
To begin with, there is NO replacement for actual Torah learning. As the mishnah teaches:
The Tablets were the handiwork of God, and the writing was God’s writing engraved—charus—on the Tablets. Do not read “charus,” but “cheirus”—freedom—for you can have no freer person than one who is ENGAGED in Torah study. (Pirkei Avos 6:2)
Learning Torah is not only about what it teaches, but about the experience of learning it itself. There is the mitzvah of being involved in that which God cherishes. There is the pleasure of learning the God-given truth, and enhancing one’s clarity in life. Torah is a much higher dimension of reality, and its “reward” is based upon the effort one makes to learn it.
But there is one goal, no matter what the level of Torah. Everything we do in life is to develop our fear of God. It’s the only thing our will really impacts:
All is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven. (Brochos 33b)
It may look as if we cause ourselves to succeed or fail in life, but that is just the way it looks. All the results in life are God’s work, based upon what He deems is important for history, and all the people to whom success or failure will make a noticeable difference. The only thing God steps away from is a person’s fear of God, because it isn’t authentic unless a person develops it as a function of their own free will.
What is fear of God? A fear of punishment? That’s part of it. But, TRUE fear of God is so much more. SO much more. It is AWE of God, which leads to an intense and abiding LOVE of God. It is a deep respect for truth, ULTIMATE truth, which is Torah, and an unwavering commitment to its supremacy over falsehood.
Fear of God is an appreciation of the gift of life, expressed through the meaningful use of one’s time on earth. It is the love of Creation, because it is the handiwork of the Creator. Fear of God is the recognition that a person is God’s representative in this world, and that this means acting the part at all times.
This is what learning Torah is supposed to bring out in a person. The deeper the level of Torah, the more this should be the case. This is why and how the learning of Torah leads to freedom, and if it doesn’t, then a person has to wonder about the “Nishma” element of their learning.
Is it possible to achieve these goals, at least on some level, WITHOUT learning Torah? In other words, can one HAVE fear of God, and all that it means, without actually LEARNING Torah?
This is what we say six days of the week in the Shemonah Esrai:
You graciously bestow knowledge upon man and teach mortals understanding. Graciously bestow upon us from You, wisdom, understanding and knowledge. Blessed are You God, who graciously bestows knowledge.
Knowledge, ALL knowledge comes from God. ALL knowledge is a GIFT from God. There are many ways to receive the gift of knowledge, but they ALL originate from HIM. It can be from the mouth of another, or a book. It can be an insight from just thinking about something. It doesn’t matter how. ALL of it is knowledge from God, and ALL of it is for the sake of knowing God better.
Clearly to KNOW God is to LOVE Him. But to LOVE Him is also to KNOW Him, because when God sees that someone wants to be closer to Him, He gives them the means to do so, even if it is beyond what their knowledge and experience to date warrants. That is the system. Those are the rules.
Torah is the most direct route to such knowledge and love of God. But, sometimes physical and even spiritual limitations mean that a person’s desire for love of God can go beyond their ability to learn about Him. The spiritual appetite is there, but the spiritual means to fill it are not.
That is when the gift of knowledge becomes most evident. When a person has taken the time and expended the energy to go as far as they PERSONALLY can to know God, and to love Him, but it is not enough for them, then God finds a way to take the person even further. Somehow, someway, they will reach spiritual heights they once thought were impossible.
How? It depends upon the person. It depends upon the time. It depends upon what is available. It doesn’t really matter how. It only matters that God has told us this is what He does when the person warrants it. We just have to know enough to want it.
And THAT, ultimately, is “Nishma.” This is what it actually means. The “Har Sinai Experience” taught the Jewish people WHAT to want. To this they said, without hesitation, “We will do.” That is, we will do whatever is in our means to achieve the closest connection to you possible, given our means to do so.
But then they added “Nishma.” This said that even that would not be enough for them. “Nishma” said that we will desire a closeness to you that we CANNOT achieve through the means available to us, but we will TRUST that you will give to US directly what we cannot achieve on our own.
It may be a sea we have to cross, and we may lack the means to sail or swim it. But that does not mean we will give up on crossing it. It just means that we have to turn to God to split it, to allow us to get to the “other side.” It is “Na’aseh” that brings us to the edge of the sea. But, it is “Nishma” that gives us the merit to cross, even miraculously, if necessary.
Pinchas Winston
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