Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto’s talks are known throughout the Jewish world. They combine chassidic teachings and philosophy, along with tips for a better life. We have collected pearls from his teachings that are relevant to our daily lives. This week he comments on the Torah section of Ki Teitzei.
Our holy rabbis interpreted the verse "My beloved went down to his garden to the beds of perfume" (Song of Songs 6:2) as referring to the holy days which we are in now. God descends to His garden in This World and is close to everyone who truly calls upon Him.
Our holy sages say that whoever wants to meet and talk with the King during the year, has to follow a certain order and process to get access. But in these days, the Almighty God is among us and is close to each and every one who truly call on Him. A person only has to call God truly from the bottom of his heart and he can already attain great achievements and reach the highest levels and places.
In this week's Torah section, the Torah says, "When you go out to war against your enemies." The holy ARI explains that this is referring to battling the evil inclination, which is the greatest battle of all. From the day a person is born, he is in a constant battle. When a person is a child, the evil inclination affects him in small ways, but when he grows up, it goes after him in bigger ways. The older a person, the greater his battle with his evil inclination, and as the Gemara says (Sukkah 52b), “One who is greater than his fellow man has a greater evil inclination than him.”
The Torah tells us, "The Lord your God will give it into your hand." This means that God helps man in his battle with the evil inclination, and will give him the strength to subdue it. Later in the weekly Torah section, the Torah commands us about a beautiful captive that a Jewish soldier was attracted to and took for a wife, and a person who has a rebellious son. It is a great fundamental that one of the hardest battles in a person's life is to maintain his sanctity.
It is known that there are fifty gates in heaven, Gates of Light, Gates of Blessing, Gates of Success, Gates of Salvation and others. Each gate has a special key that opens it. A person who works on himself in a certain area - he gains the key to the Gate dealing with that particular area. Just like each apartment in a large apartment building has its own key, so each gate in heaven has its own key. For instance, a person who has worked on himself to succeed in his field - has the key to the Gate of Success. It is the same for all the gates.
He who upholds his holiness has the master key that opens all the gates. There were righteous individuals about whom it was said that they are "known in the ‘Gates.’" (Prov. 31:23) This means that they have the key that opens all the gates.
The Song of Songs (8:12) mentions, "You, Solomon, shall have the thousand, and those who watch its fruit, two hundred." Our holy sages explain that when King David went to war, he would kill eight hundred enemies in one blow. He felt anguish because he only killed eight hundred enemies instead of a thousand that the Torah had stated (Deuteronomy 32:30) "One shall pursue a thousand." Heaven revealed to him: They had deducted two hundred from King David because of what he did to Uriah the Hittite. This means that they enabled him to kill only eight hundred instead of a thousand.
The Gemara relates (Nedarim 50b) that a man went to a chef and asked him to teach him a thousand types of dishes, but the cook only taught him eight hundred. That man was disappointed that he had not been taught all thousand dishes, and he went to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi to sue the chef. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi told him that he cannot adjudicate the case because he doesn’t understand a thousand dishes. Our holy rabbis explain the profound meaning of this story. That person was a great and righteous individual who sought to reach the level of a “thousand.” He wanted to learn a thousand meditations and secrets to achieve this supreme level, but the “chef” wouldn’t teach him all the thousand. So he went to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, of whom the Gemara says (Shabbat 118b) that he was holy and pure and possessed a great, exalted soul.
Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi was extremely humble. He said that his ancestor King David did not attain a “thousand” so how could he claim to be capable of it? That is why he said that he does not understand a thousand dishes. A “thousand” is an euphemism for the highest rank and level that a person who keeps himself holy and pure can reach.
When the Israelites went to war against the Midianites, the Torah says (Num. 31:4-5), "You shall send to the army a thousand from each tribe, a thousand from each tribe from all the Israelite tribes. From the thousands of Israel one thousand was given over for each tribe, twelve thousand armed for battle." The bitter war against the Midianites was because they had caused the Israelites to sin and defiled their holiness. The Almighty said to Moses that only holy people should participate in it, the kind of people who were able to kill a thousand with each blow. They had to have the spiritual status of a “thousand” and anyone who did not have it, was not permitted to join in the war.
Another example from this week's Torah section says, "If a man has a rebellious [sorrer] son." If we disconnect the final reish from the word sorrer, we are left with two words sur reish, meaning “he removed the reish [whose numerological value is 200].” Even though the Torah allowed him this option, when this person acted improperly by taking the beautiful captive as his wife, his spiritual level descended by 200 and he lost the premier level of a “thousand.” The verse “You, Solomon, shall have the thousand" no longer applies to him.
Today, due to our many iniquities, the evil inclination is powerful, and our battle with it is fierce. However, a person can save himself and save his family members by praying to God to protect his children.
A person should also ensure that his livelihood for his family does not have any taint of theft or unwarranted money, because then it will affect his children’s soul and they may grow up God forbid with a flaw or perverseness. A person should pray intensely and try to do everything possible so his children will be holy and pure and he will merit to reach high and great levels.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel