9.27.24 ~ Happiness in Abundance

 Good morning!

Chag Sameach Yom Hakippurim! May the fall feast of Atonement(s) be filled with happiness and the affliction of your soul cause you to draw nearer to the Most High on the holiest of days. If that sounds like an oxymoron, go back to yesterday's study on why God rejoices/sus in our judgment :-)

Commercial: Last night's Zoom: The bridal garments pt. 3: It's not not squared (Matt. 22:11,12) and introducing the first five garments of the bride (Isa. 3:18,19).

On this day of Atonement(s) we can glean some incredible truths from this week's Torah portion, nitzavim/to stand.

As Moses winds down his farewell speech he tries to persuade the people to keep to God's path by stating, see that I have placed before you life and good, and death and evil (Deut. 30:15); a statement that should take our minds back to the garden of Eden to the Tree of knowledge story (Gen. 2 & 3).

And that's not the only thing that pointed us to Genesis. We also see the words tov/good and kol/all with bikkurim/first fruits within this same speech (Deut. 12:7); where we are told to rejoice in all of the good that God has given us. This also explains to us why the curses come upon us because we are not rejoicing as we serve the Lord our God, recognizing God's goodness and great abundance (Deut. 28:45-47).

This whole speech takes us back to the garden where God gives mankind access to everything, to all of the trees of the garden. Why is Moses doing this? How does the beginning of the Torah help us understand the terrible difficulties we have here at the end? How can we possibly understand the sadistic curses in last week's Torah portion/Ki Tavo and the horrific description of the parents who will eat their own children and won't share the leftovers (Deut. 28:53,54)? Oh my stars!

In order to get a glimpse of these compounded curses we need to understand why humanity ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; the sin that had such devastating consequences on all of mankind. How could they, Adam and his honey bunny,  possibly have been tempted to eat from the tree in the first place?. They were given every tree in the garden/achol tochel mikol eitz hagan, to enjoy. They had everything!

Well, not everything, says the clever inner voice that we all sometimes hear. Technically...There is that one tree... I'm not saying it's a big deal, I'm just pointing out that, strictly speaking, it's not everything. That voice isn't satisfied with the 99.9 percent, but craves that final 0.1 percent...always craving what we can't have.

Let's look at the serpent's statement to the woman...it went something like this: 'So, woman, I heard about this command, did God really tell you you can't eat from all of the trees in the garden (Gen. 3:1)? Don't you find that question a little strange? Of course that's not what God said. He said pretty much the opposite. Mr.
Snake slips in a little mickey in her drink: You are forbidden from eating from every tree/ Lo tochlu mi kol eitz hagan?

There's that word again, kol. The implication of the snake is, if you are forbidden from the 0.1 percent, well, that's as if you can't eat from all the trees. And in some sense, even though Eve corrects the snake, the feeling of dissatisfaction lingers. Hmm... it feels like if I can't eat from that tree, it's like I have nothing. The woman isn't happy with the abundance, knowing that that 0.1 percent is out of reach.

In creation, God had declared what was good for humanity, and now, as we see with her evaluation of the tree, humanity is appropriating the term, declaring what is good in our own eyes (Gen. 3:6). And this use of the word "good" comes from an attempt to fulfill a desire/taavah. And what causes desire? Recognition of a lack. I'm hungry, so I desire food. I'm lonely, I desire love...

Yet, with hindsight, we ask, 'what didn't she have? She had everything she needed! But, with the snake's gentle nudge, she became dissatisfied with what she had, and, as a result, she desired, and took from, the one thing that was not hers. The tree that, until now, humanity left alone to convey their respect and love for their Creator.

That arrogance, that attempt to have the final 0.1 percent, is an attempt to fulfill a lack that isn't real. Because a person who has 99.9 percent and isn't happy... will he really achieve happiness by attaining that final 0.1 percent? Shouldn't he spend time trying to be happy, with all of the good that he already has?

It seems as though this story of abundance/kol and good/tov in the Garden, in the beginning of the Torah, is reflected in the conclusion of the Torah. Adam and Eve were given tov, and were given kol. But did you notice what word is missing? Simcha/Happiness. Could our garden sin, lived in the 21st century, be because there was no happiness there? No appreciation for what they had? They had 99.9% of all they needed. Did they really need more?

Let me give you a challenge today: Next time you eat grapes, like I was last night, be thankful to the farmer, consider the inventor of the refrigerator, or the ozonator that cleans the fruit, or the workers who packed and delivered the fruit. Be thankful to God, who invented the very notion of tastes and flavors. Doesn't it make that grape taste more crisp when you bite into it? Isn't it a bit sweeter? Doesn't it make you...happier? Apply that to your spouse. Your vehicle. Your house. Your...When you recognize that what you have is good, when you are truly thankful for it...you can't help but rejoice. And when you can rejoice in thankfulness, you share with those who lack (Deut. 26:11-13).

Why wouldn't we share what we have? It's really simple, we are worried that we won't have enough for ourselves. Let the Trumps and Musks of the world do the sharing! No, says the Torah. To enjoy what you have, you must truly feel like you have everything. Part of that is your happiness, part of that is gratitude, and a final piece is including others in your abundance.

Chag Sameach Yom HaKippurim!

Shalom!