Sunday, October 19, 2008

Toras Hashem Temima

תּוֹרַת ה' תְּמִימָה, מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ, עֵדוּת ה' נֶאֱמָנָה, מַחְכִּימַת פֶּתִי

"The Torah of Hashem is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Hashem is trustworthy, making the simple one wise." (Tehillim 19:8-Pesukei D'zimra for Shabbos/Yom Tov)

At Har Sinai, when Hashem began to tell us the first of the Aseres Hadibros (10 Commandments)the experience was so awesome that our souls left our bodies. That is, all of Bnei Yisroel passed away. What restored life to our people? The Torah did. THIS is what this Passuk in Tehillim means when it says "Toras Hashem temima, meshivas nafesh". "Hahem's Torah... restores life".
Now this is a nice idea, but in reality, how did it work? How did the Torah revive Klal Yisrael? The Sfas Emes explains that the Torah has this power of restoration because it is the vehicle through which Hashem chose to make His Presence manifest in the physical world. Therefore, by living a life based on Torah we are connecting to Hashem. This is what the Passuk means when it says that the Torah restored our souls. The Torah enabled us to re-establish our relationship with Hashem. Meaning the Torah does not only have the power of reviving us physically, but even to revive us spiritually; to (re)gain a closer relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu (especially after a Bein Hazmanim spent out of Yeshiva!)-which is ultimately our purpose here in this world. We should all be zoche to a real simcha (happiness) with our Torah this Simchas Torah, and we should feel that simcha throughout the year, inspiring us to immerse ourselves in Torah more this year than any year of the past.
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(Top pic courtesy of the Jewish Outreach Institute)
(Bottom pic courtesy of flickr)

2 comments:

JSJcbs said...

CR,

Another beautiful and inspiring gem of torah to come from your site!

I luv u!

Torah Temima said...

http://torasaba.blogspot.com/p/toras-hashem-temima.html