Mind Control
The mind is a terrible thing to waste. Even worse is when the mind is not free but subject to the whims and caprices of our unbridled hearts and external pressures. TETZAVEH TETZAVEH
The Many Functions of the Priestly Garments
This week’s Torah portion discusses the garments that were to be worn by the priests who served in the Temple. These garments served multiple functions. In addition to the utilitarian use of garments for warmth, protection and modesty, they also served to enhance the “honor and beauty” of the priest.
The Talmud adds a further purpose for the priestly garments. Each one of the garments would atone for the sins of the Jewish people that paralleled the function and status of the garment.
The Heart of the Belt and the Belt of the Heart
One of the priestly garments was the avnet, the belt. According to the Talmud (Erachin 16a) this belt was worn across the heart and TETZAVEH was therefore atonement for the sin of improper desires that one may harbor in his/her heart.
According to a Midrash, the belt would surround the Kohein 32 times. In Hebrew the number thirty two is indicated by the two Hebrew letters, Lamed and Beit, which forms the word lev, meaning heart.
Whose Home is It?
A story is told of a Jew who struggled to gain mastery over his own undesirable thoughts. No matter how hard he tried; he could not clear his mind from all the bad thoughts that would enter.
Not knowing how to deal with his problem, he sought the guidance of Rabbi Dovber, known as the Maggid (preacher) of Mezritch, the leader of the Chassidic movement and successor to the Ba’al Shem Tov.
Upon hearing this Jew’s dilemma, the Maggid suggested that he see the great rabbi Zev of Zhitomir. “There,” he was told, “you will find the answer to your question.”
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Rabbi Zev earned a living from an inn that he managed in a certain town. When the Jew arrived in this town it had already gotten dark and he discovered that the door of the inn was bolted shut from within. The Jew knocked on the door, but no one bothered to open it.
He waited a few minutes and knocked again. Once more, no one inside paid any attention to his knocking and the door remained shut tight.
It was a cold wintry night and when the cold weather began to get to him he began to plead that someone open the door for him, but to no avail.
Having no other alternative, the Jew spent the night outside. When it got light he awakened and knocked on the door. The door opened and the Jew was given a room in which he stayed several days.
The Jew followed virtually every move of Rabbi Zev, but was not overly impressed with anything that he did. He struggled in vain to find an answer to his own problem, for which he was sent to Rabbi Zev in the first place.
TETZAVEH
After a few days had passed and Rabbi Zev had not asked him for the reason that he had come to his inn, the Jew approached Rabbi Zev and asked him: “The Rebbe, the great Maggid, sent me to your home. But, to tell you the truth, I haven’t the foggiest notion as to why.
Rabbi Zev replied “I will tell you why the Rebbe sent you to me. It was to learn from me that a person is the master of his own home. A master of his home, will not open the door to someone he doesn’t want to let in.”
The Jew then realized that there is no magic formula to mastery over one’s thoughts. All one needs to know is that he or she is the master of his or her body. A master has control over what he or she will allow to enter.
The belt that was worn by the priest’s reminder, as well as a reminder to every Jew whom he represented, that we are all masters over ourselves and masters over our heart and its feelings.
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The Exile Reminders
In the present day and age, without the Temple in Jerusalem – may it be built imminently – we must rely on other reminders.
The precept of Tzitzis and Tefillin, both of which involve strings and straps are also intended as reminders of our need to gain mastery over our thoughts and emotions.
The Tzitzis, the Torah tells us, reminds us of our obligations and will prevent us from following the dictates of our hearts and eyes. The Tefillin, which are worn on the head and arm, opposite the heart, are the spiritual reinforcement that gives the mind the ability to control the heart.
There is also a Chasidic custom for men to wear a special belt known as a Gartel when they pray. This is a reminder and reinforcement for them to gain mastery over their thoughts and desires.
The Reason we Need Reminders
One is entitled to ask the question, why we
TETZAVEH need reminders. If we are the natural masters of our bodies, why do we need the Tzitzis or Tefillin.
One answer to this question is the phenomenon of Golus-exile. Exile conditions block the mind’s natural capacity for control over one’s feelings and behavior. Exile conditions cause us to become confused. The state of confusion upsets the normal structure of our personalities where the mind reigns supreme.
The word Melech-king is an acronym, Mo’ach (mind), Lev (heart), Kaved (liver). When presented in that order, the mind controls the emotions and they in turn control our lower functions.
If however, Galus conditions cause our system to become discombobulated then the word Melech turns into Lemech. Lemech was the hapless and hopeless descendent of Cain who in his confusion killed Cain and his own son Tuval Cain, as recounted in the Biblical narrative, according to Rashi’s commentary. The name Lemech has since been used derisively for one who is totally confused and TETZAVEH has no control over his actions.
Thus, exile is the culprit that alters our system’s ability to function in a normal way. Exile renders our mind hostage to our feelings and hormones as well as to external stimuli. Even living in the freest of societies does not detract from our true state of enslavement.
As long as our heart is in control, our mind and soul is in exile. This internal exile is what keeps us in an external exile.
The Redemption, which brings an end to the exile, parallels the process of gaining mastery over our thoughts. Our mind will be free to exercise its mastery over our feelings and actions. By liberating our soul, from the constraints of our heart, we thus contribute to the process of Redemption and the coming of Moshiach.
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From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Tetzaveh by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
