Good, Good and Good

Goodness can also be overwhelming. For us to access and fully appreciate goodness we must acquire the power of synthesis

Another Puzzling Midrash

As mentioned in previous essays, there is a genre of Torah teaching that is referred to as “Midrash Peliah-A Puzzling Midrash.” The puzzling nature of these Midrashic commentaries was intended first and foremost to pique our curiosity and impel us to search for the deeper meaning of the Torah’s teachings. It is what inspires us to peel off the various layers of Torah knowledge to uncover some deeper layers of its infinite knowledge.

In addition, one can surmise, when we confront an elusive, mysterious and extraordinarily puzzling Midrash it is a stark reminder that the Torah is Divine and that it contains wonders that will only be fully revealed in the Messianic Age. As soon as we see the word “peliah-puzzling or wondrous” it evokes the memory of the wonders of Torah to which our eyes will be opened imminently by Moshiach, and concerning which King David prayed for in the Psalms “Open my eyes so that I can see the wonders in Your Torah.”

This week’s parsha begins with Moses’ recounting of how he pleaded with G-d to allow him to enter the Promised Land; but to no avail. Moses—on account of his failure to sanctify G-d’s name when G-d told him to speak to the rock to produce water—would be denied access to the land he so craved to enter.

The matter seems to be clear. Moses was being punished for not sanctifying G-d’s name in the presence of his people. Yet the Midrash offers an alternate explanation for this denial. In the words of the Midrash Peliah:

The Missing Good

“Why did Moses not enter the Land of Israel? Because on the second day [of creation] it does not say “and it was good.”

The reference to “it was good” is related to the fact that on the second day of creation, when G-d created the firmament, He did not say that “it was good.” On all other days, upon completion of that day’s work, G-d observes “And He saw that it was good.” On the third and sixth days of creation, that phrase was actually used twice, but on day two that expression of approval was absent.

What possible connection is there between Moses’ denial of entry into the Promised Land and the fact that G-d did not utter the words “and it was good” on day two of creation? And furthermore, how does this novel explanation of the Midrash reconcile with the reason explicitly given in the Torah that it was due to Moses’ failure to sanctify G-d’s name in the presence of the nation?

A Few Clues

To find a clue to decipher this riddle one must look to the birth of Moses, which is described in the beginning of the book of Shemos/Exodus. When Moses is born, the Torah states, his “mother saw that he was good.” That expression “it was good” that the Torah fails to mention on day two of creation is the very same expression Moses’ mother used to characterize Moses himself.

Another clue can be found that will help us solve this riddle. When Moses recounts how he prayed to G-d to allow him to cross the Jordan to enter the Land he states:

“Please let me cross over and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan.”

Moses wants to see the good land. Indeed, the land of Israel is so described in numerous other verses.

So here we have three sets of good. The land that Moses was denied entry into was “good.” Moses is “good.” And the creation of the second day was missing the appellation of “good” accorded to the other days of creation.

The riddle is partially solved: Moses and the Land of Israel seem to be a perfect match. Of all the countries of the world, there is only one country that is described as “good.” Of all people that were born, the only individual who upon birth who is already described as good, even before he had a chance to prove himself, is Moses. There can hardly be a better match. So the question as to why Moses-the good, was precluded from entering the good-Land is that much stronger. Why would the natural attraction of good to good not materialize?

The Midrash therefore discovers the answer in the domain of “time” where the good that certainly exists—after all it was G-d’s creation—is concealed. This implies that sometimes good does not come to the good because there is a point in time where the glue that cements the other two forms of good to each other is absent. Moses the personification of good could not, at that time, bond with the Land of Israel the good land.

“Where there’s Smoke there’s Fire”

What does all this mean?

Sefer Yetzirah—one of the earliest works of Kabbalah that contains the secrets of creation—states that all of existence comprises three elements: Olam (world) or space; shanah (year), or time; nefesh (soul) or personality. The acronym for these three elements is ashan, which means smoke.

Smoke is a paradox. On the one hand, the saying goes, “Where there is smoke there is fire.” On the other hand, smoke is a metaphor for that which is concealed, as in the term, “a smokescreen.”

Parallel to the smoke-paradox-metaphor is the paradoxical nature of our world. On the one hand there is tremendous G-dly energy—fire—that is the very life force of existence. This fire was very much in evidence at the time the Torah was given as it says in this week’s parsha:

“From the heavens, He let you hear His voice, to educate you. He showed you His great fire upon the earth, and you heard His words from the fire.”

In a subsequent verse, the Torah relates how the people protested and said to Moses: “If we continue to hear the voice of G-d our G-d any longer this great fire will consume us and we will die!”

As a result of the intense power of G-d’s fire, it became necessary for Moses to transmit the word of G-d to them. The fire had to be concealed in the smoke. For G-d’s energy to benefit us the fire has to be concealed and filtered.

Separation Between the “Upper” and the “Lower” Waters

When did this filtering process begin?

It actually began at the very beginning of creation. On day number two G-d separated between the “upper waters” and the “lower waters.” Whatever this means in the physical sense, it is clear that on a spiritual level, the power of division between “upper” (unbridled G-dly energy) and the “lower” precincts (our physical universe), was set into motion on day two of creation.

This explains why on day two G-d does not employ the affirmative expression of “and G-d saw that it was good.” Good, in this context, means that it was the way it was intended to be. It was a finished product; or at least, it was the seed that would eventually lead to the finished product. How then can G-d call day two’s separation between the upper and the lower good? It was not a finished product. It was not even the introduction of the potential for the world to become a finished product. On the contrary, it represented the introduction of the potential for the world to not realize its goal of becoming a finished product.

However, if G-d created the division, it must mean that it contains a hidden dimension of good, since the world can never access the ultimate good without the temporary concealment of it; to help us condition ourselves to such time when we will be ready to absorb the unhampered good without mishap.

Moses was Too Powerful

We can now unravel the mystery of the puzzling Midrash.

Moses was the personification of the most sublime measure of good. Moses was himself a product of the “upper waters.” His very name Moshe means that he was drawn from the water; alluding to the upper waters that are inherently good.

The Land of Israel epitomizes the most sublime place on earth where G-d’s goodness can be fully appreciated. It is the ultimate “good land.” But the match between the two was premature. If the people would have been exposed to the uninhibited good of the Land with the unfettered good of Moses, it could have overwhelmed their systems.

That Moses could overwhelm this new generation poised to enter the “good land” was evident in his striking of the rock instead of speaking to it. And while Moses’ intention was wholly positive to break their resistance to the “upper waters” that manifested itself in the miraculous water supply, they were not ready for the removal of that separation. Thus instead of removing the veil that would have exposed them to a much more sophisticated understanding of G-d, they were overwhelmed.

Thus, G-d reprimands him that he failed to sanctify G-d’s name to the people. It’s not that he did not try to do precisely that; but that he failed to accomplish his goal because they still needed the separation between the “upper” and the “lower” to enable them to gradually remove the barrier.

Tail End

We are now at the tail end of that process. The division between the “upper waters” and the “lower” waters have been painstakingly removed by the thousands of years of learning Moses’ (the good) Torah teachings.

This is especially true in our own day and age when the barrier between the mystical, esoteric teachings of the Torah (“upper waters”) and the legal (exoteric) teachings of the Torah (“lower waters”) have been removed. We now have free access to the teachings of Kabbalah, especially as they have been made accessible to the average human intellect, through the teachings of Chassidus.

We are now therefore ready for the coming of Moshiach and the ultimate Redemption, when—according to the Midrash—Moses (the good) will arise and take his flock from their resting place in the desert and enter into the Land of Israel (the good land) because Moshiach—who builds the Third Temple—will introduce the double-good synthesis with which the third day of creation is identified.

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