"Na'eh hayah la'avosainu lomar na'aseh ve'nishmah. Shemah na'eh
hayah lahem lomar eileh elohecha yisrael - esmahah!"
It was becoming for our forefathers to exclaim "we will act and only
then will we hear". Perhaps it would have been becoming for them
to exclaim, "these are your gods, Yisrael! Of course not!
These are the words of the Medrash. What point is the Medrash making by exclaiming how suitable Am YIsrael's declaration of "Na'aseh ve'Nishmah" in contrast to how unsuitable was the declaration at the time of the chet ha'egel? Is it not obvious that the former was Am Yisrael's great show of unconditional acceptance of Hashem and His Torah, whereas the latter, sadly, were the words of the nation at a time of failure? What lesson is there to be learned by examining the two side by side?
The Bais HaLevi gives the following famous insight into chet ha'egel:
When Moshe Rabbainu failed to return at the (miscalculated) hour that Am Yisrael expected him, they panicked and decided to look for a means to draw the Shechina, the Divine Presence down to them. They were the "Dor De'ah", a generation of great knowledge. They were aware that man, through his every act, affects not only the lower world in which he lives, but all the upper worlds, and has the power to bring the Shechina to dwell on earth. They turned to Aharon for assistance in this project, for they knew that he possessed profound understanding in this realm. The golden calf that they chose specifically with the motive of bringing down the Shechina. (At at the time of Kri'as Yam Suf, when the heavens opened up, they perceived the Ma'aseh Merkava, the Divine Chariot. One of the four faces of the MerKavah is the pnei shor, the face of an ox.) They wanted to assure themselves that Hashem would dwell in their midst!!
According to this explanation, it would seem that they meant well when they made the egel. What was wrong?
It is true that man affects all the upper worlds by his actions on earth. However, this only occurs if the act that he is doing is according to the Torah. Otherwise, no matter how profound is the person's perception and understanding, no matter how knowledgeable he is in the mystical secrets, if his action is not according to the dictates of the Torah, it can accomplish nothing at all. Basically, the effectiveness of any spiritual act lies in the uncompromised premise that it is a commandment of Hashem.
Later, Am Yisrael built the Mishkan, the tabernacle, a physical structure, a place for the Shechina to dwell on earth. Why did this work and the golden calf did not? The Mishkan was done by the word of Hashem, as He commanded to Moshe. Even though Betzalel, the main architect, possessed profound understanding of how to combine the letters that were used in creation, he did not at all rely on his own knowledge, but, in total submission of his intellect and understanding, did every act SOLELY with the motivation of fulfilling the Divine Command. A study of the account of the summary in Parashas Pikudei of the building of the Mishkan will prove the great emphasis on the fact that every detail was done "ka'asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe", as Hashem commanded Moshe. This, and only this, was the factor responsible for the Shechina dwelling on the place.
When Am Yisrael declared "na'aseh ve'nishmah", this is to what they were referring. They were accepting upon themselves to fulfill mitzvos basically to fulfill the Divine Will, whether or not they would perceive or understand the rationale, the positive outcome, the "constructive purpose" of the act of the mitzvah being done.
We are quite well-aquainted with the fact that we unconditionally accept upon us the yoke of Mitzvos. However, what is less known is how to weave the great declaration of "na'aseh ve'nishmah" into our daily lives without falling into the hazard of "eleh elohecha yisrael". Ultimately, every act, thought and word is a Mitzvah or otherwise.
Chazal caution us that "Kol ha'koes ke'ealu oved avodah zarah", anger is similar to idolatry. W;hy would this be?
Feeling of frustration and anger result from disappointed assesment of any given reality that fails to concur with what we percieve to be the ideal. We all have ambitions, aspirations and goals towards which we strive, some more lofty and some less. The fact that they are our goals though mean that they are important to us. When reality does not match them, our natural response is to experience feelings of impatience, depression, frustration or anger. These are all various responses to the same thing.
Knowledge and understanding as to what is the truly ideal reality requires absolute objectivity. This is not humanly possible. Only G-d, Who is All-Knowing, and Sees past present and future in one glance and created man and knows him through and through, only He knows.
So when we face a situation that evokes in us any of these negative responses, we are faced with a choice. Do we passively succumb to our limited mortal judgement of the situation and feel frustrated or sad or angry?
Or do we recognise that in all situations we are accompanied by G-d, and it is He that is orchestrating the present situation in which we find ourselves. For the entire creation is in His hands and He could easily have changed any one of the million factors that went into the configuration of the present situation. Therefore, whatever the present situaltion is in which we find ourselves, it is His Will.
Rather, we aspire to collect ourselves and assess, what does G--d want from me in this situation? He placed me in this particular predicament first and foremost because He has compassion on me and He wants something from me. "Na'aseh venishmah" - I am ready to honestly try my best to study and seek out what is that desired response. I recognise that my understanding of the present reality is limited and therefore very inferior,
Every time that we subdue these emotions we are, in effect, obliterating that nasty sound of "eleh elohecha yisrael", and redeclaring "Na'aseh venishmah".
Is this not much more becoming?!!
A gutten Erev Shabbos
from Yrushalayim Ir HaKodesh