The Cure for Sterility

A sterile mind is cannot produce proper emotions. It is a sign of exile.

An Unusual Blessing

In the beginning of this week’s parsha the Torah lists the following among the blessings the Jewish people will enjoy when they follow in G-d’s ways:

“You shall be blessed above all nations. There will be no sterile male or barren female among you or among your cattle.”

The question has been raised, what is the connection between the two parts of this verse? What does our status as a blessed nation have to do with getting rid of sterility and barrenness?

[See preceding essay for a simple explanation.]

Chochma and Binah: Father and Mother

Sterility and barrenness are not just physical phenomena. They are also symbols of spiritual maladies that inhibit the growth of Jewish life and that have punctuated our lives particularly in the days of exile.

In the teachings of Kabbalah the male reproductive power is said to parallel the intellectual creative power referred to as chochma, usually translated as “wisdom” but more accurately the “power of conceptualization.”

When a person has a flash of insight and “sees” the answer to a question, the power of chochma is at work.

However, chochma alone does not suffice, for that flash of insight is very much like a flash of lightening. It illuminates the entire sky ever so brightly, but it lasts only for a few seconds.

To fully access knowledge one must be able to have the next intellectual power of binah.

Female reproductive power, which involves the development of the male seed, is said to correspond to the intellectual power of binah-understanding, or the elucidation and development of the seminal idea.

With the feminine power of binah one can take any idea and flesh out all of its details, delve deeply into the subject to uncover its various layers of meaning and then be capable of transmitting it to another.

SpiritualSterility

The human mind is capable—through the process of conceptualization and elucidation—to develop the requisite emotions of love and awe for G-d.

This is true, however, only when the mind thinks clearly. When one is intoxicated with materialistic matters, the synapses of the brain do not function properly. When one’s mind is not receptive to the soul’s message because it has been starved of the necessary spiritual oxygen supplied by the study of Torah and the observance of the Mitzvos, the mind’s capacity to conceive of G-d and elaborate on His role in our lives is curtailed.

When the mind’s ability to conceive of spiritual matters is inhibited, or is incapable of developing and implementing that which one conceives us, the result is “sterility” and “barrenness.” There will be no offspring; no resulting emotions; no warmth or excitement about anything spiritual.

When a person prays and the words are charged with feeling and fervor they can change a person’s behavior. When, however, there is no feeling, and the words are recited perfunctorily, they become sterile and barren.

A New Translation

This then is what the Torah means when it says “You shall be blessed above all the nations.” This verse can also be translated as: You shall be blessed by all the nations.” This suggests that our minds and hearts will be so virile and potent and we will be so spiritually influential, that the nations around us will bless us because of the overflow of holiness and goodness that we exude and they will enjoy.

Concerning the Messianic Age we are told (Tanya, Chapter 36):

“From the overflow of light to the Jewish people the darkness of the nations will also be illuminated, as it is stated, ‘And the nations will go with your light…’”

In that case there will be no one who is spiritually sterile or barren, because our efforts will have borne fruit. Our actions will be so radiant that it will even effect our environment. The effects of our actions will extend even to “your animals,” i.e., even in those mundane aspects of life that we share with animals, we will feel the inspiration of our Mitzvos.

Igniting the Embers

The Chassidic master, R. Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov in his work Igra d’Kalah takes this notion a step further:

The Hebrew word for nation is ahm in the singular and ah’mim in the plural. This word can also be translated as “embers.” When a burning coal loses its light and the fire is smoldering to the point that it is barely alive that is the definition of ah’mim.

This then, on a deeper level, is what the Torah means when it says that we will be blessed above the nations (read “embers.”): We will be blessed that our embers will again come alive, and the flame of our souls will burn brightly. The heat and energy that they will generate will guarantee that they will not be sterile or barren; their efforts will make a difference. These “flames” will engulf the entirety of our beings. Even our animal souls will begin to warm up to G-d and even develop a passion for the noble things in life.

Connection to the Beginning

This verse is the continuation of the opening verse:

“And what will happen is, as a result of your listening to these laws and your care of their observance, G-d your G-d, will keep to you; the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your fathers.”

The opening word and title of this week’s parsha is Ekev, which is translated here to mean as “a result” can also be translated as “heel” or “the end of days.”

In this context, we can reinterpret the above as follows:

In the Messianic Age, after maintaining our Jewish identity, notwithstanding the millennia of suffering and pain in exile, and notwithstanding the state of spiritual sterility and barrenness that has threatened to frustrate the conception and birth of Jewish life, G-d will finally fan the flames of our dormant embers so that we will never be sterile or barren again.

Thus the prophet Isaiah declares: Says G-d: “You were like a barren woman who never gave birth, sing!” As commentators explain, the barren woman refers to the state of the Jewish people in the days of exile, and that we will finally sing in the days of Moshiach when the cure for sterility and barrenness will finally be here.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Ekev by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.