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Writer's pictureDavid Dombrowsky

The courage to have faith

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"עַל כֵּן יַעֲזָב אִישׁ אֶת אָבִיו וְאֶת אִמּוֹ, וְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְהָיוּ לְבָשָׂר אֶחָד"
So therefore, a man should leave his father and mother and 
cling to his wife; and they will be as one flesh

In Giluach 4:7, Reb Nosson explains this famous verse allegorically: His father and mother are the kabbalistic emanations of wisdom. Father represents חכמה, or knowledge, and mother represents בינה, or understanding. A person needs to abandon all static, intellectual exercises and cleave only to his wife, who represents the aspect of holy faith. Because the essential revelation of the truest truth (עִקַּר הִתְגַּלּוּת אֲמִתַּת הָאֱמֶת), is when ‘they will be as one flesh,’ when truth and faith unite in the most complete way.

Rabbi Leibish Hundert made a brilliant inference here in Reb Nosson’s words. “Exercising only one’s intellectual faculty is akin to returning to one’s father and mother, as opposed to the daring and less certain act of creating one’s own life with his wife, who represents faith. All of the intellectual constructions out there (חכמות) are at the end of the day static formulations within which the real self can hide and avoid the challenge of an experiential growth and dynamism found in a mysterious relationship with the Divine. The moment one hides is the moment where he lacks faith in himself. It is in that moment of hiding that the fancy constructions become more important than the journey of the self, because one has lost faith that one’s journey is of significant importance. On the other hand, making faith an integral part of one’s cognition of Torah ideas, (which is what Reb Nosson is suggesting above), will lend the crucial dimension of dynamism to one’s life of religious growth, relinquishing one’s ownership of the idea and allowing it to be alive and change, as in a living relationship with a spouse”.

It’s scary to be unique and creative, especially for an observant Jew, who’s used to following a script for everything. It’s frightening to proceed based on just faith. But that’s why everything comes down to just believing, וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה. All Hashem wants is for us to leave our comfort zone and make a small move towards him. And then we can reach the highest places, וְהָיוּ לְבָשָׂר אֶחָד.

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