Complete Man

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.                                             Genesis 2:24

            Netziv understands our verse to be the continuation of the Creator’s decree "It is not good that man is alone; I shall make him a helpmate opposite him (k’negdo)." [Genesis 2:18] In order to realize the purpose of being part of a couple, a man must leave his parents and “cleave to his wife, thus becoming as one flesh, loving her as if there were a single person.”

           Our verse adds that the prerequisite for a woman to become a helpmate is reciprocity in the marital relationship. The purpose of being a couple cannot be realized if one of the spouses rules over the other. “The woman is not secondary to her husband, but they must be as one flesh.” Each of the spouses must consider the needs and benefit of the other as he/she considers his/her own needs and benefit. This is the approach which is necessary to achieve true love.

          Yehuda Kiehl [Da’at Mikra] offers an enlightening comment: “The primary lesson which emerges from the description of the woman being formed of Adam’s rib is that husband and wife must complement each other as if they are ‘one flesh.’”

            Indeed, the Torah is consistent in its approach to being a couple:

Male and female He created them, and He blessed them, and He called their name man (Adam) on the day they were created.                            Genesis 5:2

            Though the verse refers to the first two human beings, Adam and Eve, it declares that God called their name (singular) man.

            Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe writes:

Man and woman together make a single Man (Adam). “And he called their name Adam” – a single man.

            Rabbi Wolbe expands and comments:

Until marriage, one is but half a person, and only upon marriage does one become a complete person. Following marriage there is no longer “I” but “we;” husband and wife together. Before marriage, the half-person is called “I” while following marriage, the spouses together form a whole person. All one’s traits must be focused on this, that they truly be as a single person.

       Indeed, Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Gamda elucidates our verse to mean that “Anyone who has no wife is an incomplete man,” [Breishit Rabba 17:2] while Rabbi Elazar goes further and states: “Any man who has no wife is not a man (at all).” [Yalkut Shimoni, Genesis 23]

         It is clear and obvious that achieving this goal is quite difficult.

         Rabbi Aryeh Levin once accompanied his wife to her doctor’s appointment, and when the physician asked what the problem is, Rabbi Levin responded “Her foot hurts us.”

This Dvar Torah is dedicated to the memory of my wife. Through God’s grace, Gloria was my helpmate for more than forty-one years.

Fifty Shekels or Six Hundred?

But only in the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes; there you shall offer up your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.                                    Deuteronomy 12:14

In one of your tribes – in the portion of Benjamin, yet above Scripture states “Of all your tribes,” [verse 5] how can the verses be reconciled? When King David purchased the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he collected money from all the tribes, yet the threshing floor itself was within the portion of Benjamin.                                              Rashi

            King David’s purchase of the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, which is the site of the altar of the Temple [II Samuel 24:18] is described twice in the Bible. Toward the end of Second Samuel, the verse states “David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver;’" [ibid.,v.25]      while First Chronicles [21:25] reports that “David gave to Ornan (who is Araunah) for the place six-hundred  shekels of gold weight.” Our Sages were sensitive to the apparent contradiction, and teach:

It was taught: One text says, “David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight;” whereas it is written, “David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” How can these be reconciled? He collected fifty (shekels) from each tribe, which amounted to six hundred in all.                                Babylonian Talmud. Zevaḥim 116b

            Our Sages’ tradition is that King David collected fifty shekels from each of the twelve tribes for the purchase of the threshing floor of Araunah, and hence the total price paid was six-hundred shekels. Thus, there is no contradiction between the verses; rather, Second Samuel presents the unit price per tribe, while First Chronicles presents the total price.

            There is great significance to our Sages’ comment. The Temple Mount and the altar are intended to unite the tribes of God into a single nation, and it is therefore inconceivable that they belong to any single tribe as opposed to belonging to the Collective Israel. Therefore King David collected an equal sum of money from each of the twelve tribes to insure that the threshing floor belonged to all the tribes rather to any single tribe.

            This approach is consistent with our Sages’ opinion that Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes. [Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 12a; Megila 26a; Bava Kama 86b; and cited by Maimonides as halacha, Laws of Impurity of Tzara’at 14:11] The simplest explanation of the Sages’ opinion is that since Jerusalem is destined to unite the nation of Israel, it cannot possibly belong to any single tribe, but must be the domain of the Collective Israel.

            In fact, the concept of Jerusalem in general and the Temple specifically as that which unites Israel runs as a golden thread through the Holy City’s history, and one who does not understand this point simply cannot understand the essence of Jerusalem.

       This understanding of Jerusalem’s destiny explains our Sages’ determination that Jerusalem was destroyed because of unfounded hatred among the Jews. [Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 9b] Once Jerusalem became a focus of hatred among the Jews, she ceased being herself, and the city’s destruction became inevitable.

            Equally, this understanding explains Rabbi Kook’s famous comment: “Given that we were destroyed and the entire world destroyed because of unfounded hatred, we will be rebuilt and the world will be rebuilt with us through ‘unbounded love’.” When we bring Jerusalem to realization of her destiny of uniting Israel, her rebuilding will become inevitable.

Love and Fear

(He will do this) if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes written in the scroll of this law (and) if you return to (el) the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.    Deuteronomy 30:10

            The first century CE Aramaic translation of Yonatan ben Uziel understands the verse to refer to repentance which is motivated by fear of Heaven.

            Alshikh, among others, sees the verse as referring to repentance which is motivated by love of God.

            In the final chapter of his Laws of Repentance [10:1-2], Maimonides explains the superiority of Divine service motivated by love of God over that motivated by fear of Heaven:

Only one who serves God out love of has the attribute of wisdom and the quality of the Prophets, (and) this is the level commanded us by the Holy One, blessed be He, through Moses, as the verse states “You shall love the Lord your God.” [Deuteronomy 6:5]

            Netziv as well understands the verse to be dealing with repentance out of love, and he adds the insightful comment that repentance motivated by fear of Heaven expresses self-love, based upon fear of punishment, and not love of God.

            HaK’tav v’haKabbala notes that in verse two the Torah used a different wording (which is not evident in translation): “And you must return to (ad) the Lord your God,” and distinguishes between the two Hebrew words: “ad” implies approaching near, but not entering, while “el” means entering within. One who repents out of fear of Heaven cannot fully connect with God, since the impact of his former sins remaining a barrier between himself and God. However, concerning repentance motivated by love of God, our Sages taught:

Great is repentance, as one’s intentional sins are counted for him as merits.                        Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 86b

Thus, this type of repentance allows one to reach complete attachment to God.

            The verse’s choice of words is significant, teaching that repentance motivated by love of God truly allows the penitent to establish a personal and non-mediated connection with Him.

Future Past

Remember the days of old; reflect upon the years of (other) generations. Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will inform you.                                  Deuteronomy 32:7

            The poem of Ha’azinu is Moses’ survey of the entire history of the nation of Israel, “From beginning to end, including all that will occur for the nation in the future, beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the days of Messiah, as the verse states ‘Remember the days of old’,” as Rabbeinu Beḥayye writes in his introduction to the parasha.

            Though the Book of Deuteronomy is known as the repetition of Torah, and it opens with a review of Israel’s experiences during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, its basic focus is forward looking. Essentially, the view to the past informs the view to the future, and the quintessential point is continuity.

            It is significant that in the Holy Tongue the root of the word for forward “kadima” means that which is past. The word itself teaches that for the nation of Israel the past enlightens the future. There is no possibility of divorcing Israel’s past from its present and future.