Erasing for the Purpose of Writing
Destroying a relationship is a terrible thing. Restoring a relationship is a wonderful thing. Creating a totally new and incomparably good relationship is Divine,
Don’t Destroy Holy Property!
One of the prohibitions that are mentioned in this week’s parsha concerns the destruction of holy property.
After the Torah commands the Jewish people to destroy the pagan shrines and altars of the Land of Canaan, they were told “Do not do this to G-d your G-d.“ Our sages interpret this as an admonition not to destroy holy property, i.e., the Holy Temple, its altar and other holy implements.
The Midrash raises an interesting question:
“Can anyone even consider that a Jew would destroy their Altars?”
Why then does the Torah have to exhort us not to do it?
This question is likely based on the premise that the average person does not do something just for the spite of it. Of what benefit is it to anyone to destroy the Altar in the Temple? And a person who would do so spitefully would most likely not be deterred by the Torah’s admonition not to do so.
Don’t Erase G-d’s Name!
The Midrash answers:
“This is an admonition not to erase the name of G-d.“
In other words, the prohibition is directed against destruction of G-d’s name. This interpretation, to not erase G-d’s name, has been incorporated into Jewish law.
A practical application of this prohibition would be the case of an editor of an article who wants to delete G-d’s name. The editor may not erase the word, but rather indicate some other way that the word should be deleted.
Exception to the Rule
There is one situation, however, where the Torah does permit the erasure of G-d’s name. As a part of the ritual the Torah prescribes to determine that a woman was innocent of the suspicion of adultery, G-d’s name would have to be erased. The Talmud comments that G-d is willing to have His name erased in order to prove her innocence and bring peace and harmony to husband and wife.
Why would it be permissible to erase G-d’s name to create peace? Does the end justify the means? Would one be permitted to harm another for the purpose of obtaining something positive? Why then is it permitted to destroy something holy in order to facilitate some positive outcome? And, more importantly, why did G-d devise a system where it is necessary to erase and His name.
The Mystical Dimension of Marriage
The answer lies in the mystical dimension of marriage. Marriage is more than just the means to ensure that there is a future. Marriage is more than a means to express love between two people. Marriage is that and much more. Primary among the objectives of marriage is to bring together the greatest and most potent Divine energies that are represented by and channeled through a man and a woman.
Man’s spiritual energy, in and of itself, cannot express itself peacefully in this world. If G-d’s “masculine energies,” which are generated by men, would be the exclusive Divine force, it would overwhelm the world. Only when the “male” Divine energy is synthesized with the “feminine” aspect of G-dly energy (i.e., the potential to receive, absorb and internalize G- dliness), can the world internalize, and be “comfortable” with, the G-d’s presence.
Whatever holiness is thus compromised by the erasure of G-d’s name is compensated by the creation of a harmonious marriage. Their peaceful marriage is a living manifestation of G-d’s name.
True, one may not erase even the ink on paper that forms G-d’s name. If, however, it enables us to “write” G-d’s name in the form of the union of two human beings whose love and respect for each other is based on the foundations of Torah – that is permissible and would even be desirable.
If the superficial expression of G-d in this world through the medium of writing is sacred, how much more so is the expression of the Divine as it is concretized within marriage and the home. It can, therefore, override the prohibition against erasing G-d’s name.
Our sages tell us that when a marriage breaks up, the Altar sheds tears. The Altar was the medium through which G-d would reveal His presence in the world. But, even the Altar could not reveal as much of G-dly energy in the world as can a happy marriage based on the principles of Torah.
Thus, when G-d’s presence would “depart” as a consequence of the dissolution of a marriage, the Altar sheds tears, as if to say, “I cannot fill in the void that was just created.“ How did G-d allow the Destruction of His Own Temple?
The question has been asked, how G-d could have allowed the Holy Temple to be destroyed? Doesn’t G-d keep His own commandments?
The answer is that if we see G-d “erasing His own name,” by allowing the destruction of the Temple, it can only be justified in the context of G-d rebuilding the Temple and expressing His presence in an incomparably more dramatic way.
The destruction of the Two Temples are a prelude to G-d restoring His relationship with His people, through which He leaves the imprint of His name on this world. Moreover, the relationship G-d will have with us in the Third Bais Hamikdash will significantly surpass the relationship we enjoyed with the previous two Temples.
May we realize the rapprochement between the A-mighty and His nation, through the revelation of Moshiach and the building of the Third Bais Hamikdash, imminently!
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Rei by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
