Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English and Hebrew: Parshas Tazria Metzora – 5 Iyar 5785
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Tazria Metzora – 5 Iyar 5785
Bostoner Rebbe shlit”a – Yerushalayim
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Midrash Tanchuma connects the opening Pasuk, “A woman who conceives…” to Tehillim 139:5 “Achor V’Kedem Tzartony” [back and front have you created me]. The Tanaaim in the Midrash disagree as to the exact meaning of ‘Achor V’Kedem’. All agree that the Pasuk in Tehillim refers to the formation of Adam HaRishon, however they disagree as to whether it is an allusion to World, Time, or Man.
R’ Yochanan explains from Beraishis 2:7, “VaYayatzer Es Ho’odom” [and He formed man], written with two Yuds. As cited by Rashi there, Adam HaRishon was created for both This World and for Techiyas HaMasim [after resurrection]. This is in contrast to all other animals, where the word VaYaytzer (2:19) is used to describe their formation, written with only one Yud. Thus the aforementioned verse from Tehillim would mean ‘Achor’ for This World, ‘V’Kedem’ and for the Next World, ‘Tzartony’ did Hashem create us for.
R’ Elazar ben Pedas and R’ Shimon ben Lakish maintain that the Pasuk from Tehillim alludes to Time. R’ Elazar states that six things were created on the sixth day. The Nefesh of Man was created first, followed by the animals, followed by Adam and Chava, etc. Reish Lakish goes further and argues that the Nefesh was created before the creation of the World. Thus, ‘Achor’ after the animals/Creation, ‘V’Kedem’ and before the animals/Creation, did Hashem create us. Man was the last physical creation, to teach him that based on his Guf [physical body] alone, the baser part of himself, he cannot claim supremacy, ‘since even the gnat and the earthworm preceded him’ (Vayikra Rabba 14:1). Rather, it is due to man’s Nefesh [soul], his elevated component, and the unique ability to create a meaningful future by furthering his spiritual development, that Man has a justified claim as the ultimate player in creation.
R’ Shmuel bar Nachmani asserts that Tehillim 139:5 refers to the bodily formation of Man himself. As explained in Berachos 61a, Hashem created Man as a dual-faced creature, male and female. Therefore, with ‘Achor’ a back-face ‘V’Kedem’ and a front-face did Hashem create man. This concept is further strengthened by Beraishis 5:2, “Male and female he created them…and he called their name Adam on the day he created them”. Every Jewish marriage is symbolically the reunification of Adam HaRishon. This also gives new insight into the Halachic concept of Ishto K’Gufo [his wife is like his own body]
The Sfas Emes explains on this Midrash that Hashem created the world with three methods: Action, Speech and Thought. Bnei Yisroel came into being through these three methods. Pesach celebrates the Exodus from Egypt, where the laws of nature were miraculously changed and the nation was brought out of Egypt through action with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Shavuos commemorates the giving of the Torah and the World of Hashem that was spoken and transmitted to Klal Yisroel in the form of Torah. Sukkos is where we feel joy and contentment under Hashem’s protection, which is a manifestation of thought. Similarly, Shabbos is unique in that it has three different Shemoneh Esrei prayers: one for Maariv focused on action and creation, one for Shacharis, which commemorates the Shabbos we were commanded at Matan Torah, and Mincha stresses our closeness to Hashem and our contentment of the mind.
The human being is a hybrid of the physical and the spiritual. The upper worlds and the lower worlds. Heaven and earth were created on the First Day, representing both this mundane world and the heavenly abode. On the second day the firmament was created for the benefit and honor of the upper worlds. On the third day the grass, flowers and trees honored this lower world. On the fourth day the heavenly bodies once again honored the heavens, while on the fifth day, the animals were formed to populate and honor the lower worlds. In order that there should not be jealousy, conflict and competition between the upper worlds and the lower worlds, the sixth day was split with the creation of man, a creation that honors both the lower world and the upper world.
One final approach to “forward and backward You formed me and You have laid your hand upon me" is the relationship between Shabbos and Man. Shabbos further emphasizes the message that man was created ‘Achor’, on the last of the six days of creation, ‘V’Kedem’ to look forward, to the sanctity of Shabbos. Man was Hashem’s final creation before Shabbos. Hashem made all the preparations before Man’s arrival, like an elegantly set table, to properly usher in the Shabbos.
May we merit that this Shabbos will be for all of us both an ‘Achor’ – a spiritual culmination of the week, and ‘V’Kedem’ – the starting point to infuse Kedusha into the rest of our week, since ‘Tzartony’ this is why Hashem created us as well as the holy Shabbos – to be companions in the unified service of Hashem until the Yom Sh’Kulo Shabbos.