R. M. Levi
Based on lessons by Rabbanit M. Levy (daughter of Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pincus)
We live in a world where tragedies happen all around us. What do we mean by a tragedy?
Death, illness, infertility, a child who behaves appallingly… All of this is truly difficult. But it all ends here. 80, 90, 100 years—and it will be over. The real tragedies begin after that. After this world, the world of Eternity awaits us. Our soul begins its journey here, but this is only the beginning.
Real life is in Eternity. A sin a person commits does not end here. It can follow him forever and ever, unless he repents and erases that sin. And that is a real tragedy. Arriving in the Eternal World with a sin is the most terrible thing imaginable. It bears no comparison to even the most horrifying disasters of this world that we can imagine, disasters we find so hard to accept.
We want the world to be kind and beautiful, to smile at us, for everything to go smoothly, exactly as we planned… But this is a very simplistic view of the world.
Once a young woman came to my father. She was having a very hard time: she had several small children who had been born literally one after another, and she was barely managing to care for them. She came to the rabbi to ask how she could change the situation. My father said to her: “How many more years will you be able to have children? How many more years will things be so hard for you? Fifteen? Twenty? Every Jewish soul is Eternity! Can twenty difficult years possibly compare with Eternity?
This is what my father would repeat in many difficult situations. What are a few decades filled with hardships compared with Eternity?
Of course, we pray that the Almighty will not send us difficult trials. And our prayers save us from many problems! But there are still hardships that we must go through as part of the Almighty's plan. And we look up in bewilderment: “What have we done to deserve this? Let us live in peace!”
That same sister of mine, who at the time of the accident was an 11-year-old girl—talented, happy, beautiful, spoiled… In a single moment, the Almighty changed her life in ways beyond imagining! In every respect—physical, spiritual… And she, a child, had to go through all of this without her parents' support!
How much suffering can a little girl endure? How can we answer that question? We are talking about the body's suffering in this world. Do we take the soul's existence into account? Do we know what came before? What will come afterward? What awaits her? Yes, right now things are very, very hard for her. But the world does not end here. There is a great, beautiful world, the world of Eternity. What will we take with us there?
In the days of the Temple, a Jew could come with his sin, offer a sacrifice, and leave without that sin!
What a joy, what a priceless gift! But if a kohen happened to do something incorrectly, or someone who was not a kohen performed the sacrifice, the sin remained. And that is a tragedy! It is a deep wound to the soul. All the more so on Yom Kippur. The High Priest had to atone for the sins of the entire Jewish people, and even a single wrong thought on his part could ruin everything. The entire Jewish people could be left with sins that had not been atoned for! This was such a terrible tragedy that the High Priest responsible for it would die!
The Temple was the heart of the Jewish people! Just as our heart supplies the entire body with the blood needed to sustain life, so the Temple was a source of spirituality for the entire Jewish people.
Shabbat Kodesh—the heart of Judaism
The laws of Shabbat are so strict because, by breaking them, we strike at the heart! Just as the Temple was a place where the Almighty's presence was felt, so Shabbat Kodesh is a time when we feel the Almighty's presence.
Shabbat is a full day of special closeness to the Almighty. Many parallels can be drawn between the Temple and Shabbat.
From where do the Sages learn that special clothes should be worn on Shabbat? From the fact that a kohen wore special clothes while serving in the Temple. It is not fitting to enter the Almighty's house in everyday clothing! Shabbat is time that belongs to the Almighty. It is not fitting to spend that time in everyday clothing!
We must wash before Shabbat, just as the kohanim washed (sanctified) their hands and feet and immersed in a mikveh before beginning their service. Lighting Shabbat candles parallels lighting the Temple Menorah. The Shabbat table, covered with a tablecloth, parallels the Temple table.
There is a custom—perhaps some of you follow it—to bake twelve challot, corresponding to the twelve loaves in the Temple. I will not go into detail here; you can read about it in my father's book, where he draws detailed and beautiful parallels between the Temple and Shabbat.