Sotá y Nazir 07

Each Of Us Is A Divine Vessel

Rabbi Darío Feiguin
The celebration of Shavuot marks the end of a holiday period that started 50 days before, at Pesach. In some way, it is the final stage of that holiday. Even the Talmudic rabbis give very little autonomy to Shavuot, calling it “Atzeret shel Pesach”, which means, the end of Pesach. We also know that during the time of the Bet Hamikdash, the Great Temple of Jerusalem, each of the days between Pesach and Shavuot, the people would bring the Omer: a measurement of barely, while counting the not so casual seven weeks, until they arrived to the Yovel, the 50th day, that in reference to the lands, marked the end of a cycle.
On Pesach, the cycle starts with the emphasis on the value of Freedom, exodus. The Jewish People started with Freedom, the divine gift that make us imperfect, but human; that allows us to transcend, even from our own limitations, to the rigor of biology, through our own volition.
For our tradition, the cycle must close with Shavuot, with the complementary idea of the value of Responsibility. Freedom is conditioned by responsibility. We were given the gift of freedom not to do the first thing that comes into mind, but to use such freedom with consciousness.
Together, transition from Freedom towards Responsibility allows the emergence from Divine Revelation and the Giving of Torah. Shavuot also closes the Pesach cycle with the offering of Bikurim, the first fruits that we were able to gather.

At Shavuot each person was required to go to Jerusalem with his basket, bringing those first fruits, with a deep consciousness of Joy (Simcha) and Gratitude.

The cycle that started with sowing, resulting in the first spring sprouts, was closed with the showing of the first fruits of work and effort. People came to the Temple and were connected with the Divinity through the gratitude for a work that was felt to be shared. It was not only in our hands, but required a partnership with nature, with other human beings and with G-d.
But there is also a third, a deeper interpretation, about why Shavuot closes the cycle of Pesach and that is related to the Kabbalah.
According to the Lurianic Kabbalah, the episode described in which G-d, who contains everything to the infinite, decides to create a vacuum where the world emerges and we appear.
The idea expressed here, is one that the void that existed, before the creation of man and the worlds we know today, was all contained in “vessels.” When G-d created man, the immense divine energy released within that void, inside those vessels, caused them to shatter and the pieces fall into emptiness. This happened because the vessels were not able to support the weight of this energy.
This Kabbalah discourse may generate questions that I’m not going to expound about today. We will have to plan a Kabbalah introductory class to try to grasp some of these concepts.

According to this Kabbalistic interpretation, each person is in his/herself this vessel, containing a piece of this original divine spark or energy, making it possible for each of us to raise that spark into a Divine Light. In other words, the vessel is not outside. The vessel is within us, myself, you, each of us.

So think back to what I said before about each person having to go to Jerusalem with his basket. Think about this - If each of us is that Kli, or “the vessel,” this means that each of us not only offers what we produce or what we have, but more importantly we offer who we are. Each of us is offering ourselves through our own “baskets.”
It is not our bank accounts, nor the ephemeral beauty of the human body, nor the clothes that cover us, nor all the external properties, that determine our condition. These external or superficial items are interpreted by the Kabbalah as Klipot, or the “shells” that cover our being in many layers. It is necessary for us to peel back these layers like an onion to have access to the core, that Divine Light.
Pity on those that judge by the appearances and never get to taste the core of the human existence!
So, if each of us is a Kli (vessel), that needs to be taken to the Temple of the heavenly Jerusalem, such vessels must be free of those layers (Klipot), we must be only that light, that Divine Light that resides within us.
We can’t walk bent by a weight that we can’t tolerate. Having only that light does not mean for us to be empty. That Light means mainly for us to be “humble”.

That Light means for us to put aside pride, guilt and hate. In the same way than our body disposes of the physiological waste, our souls must dispose of those things that are not useful.

So, think with me, if each of us is a Kli (vessel) in the Kabbalistic sense, the absence does not acquire the status of a presence. In simpler terms, Darkness cannot exist on its own, but can only exist in the absence of light. That emptiness we create by shedding those layers (Klipot), won’t result in an ontological entity (an existence that we need to take its place), but the absence of that meaning – which I believe is one of the worst modern diseases, people living without finding meaning in their existence.
Like the above example – Light is not the opposite of Darkness. Hate is not the opposite of love. It will almost be, as the poet says, the youngest brother that lives next door. Its opposite will be the nothingness, the apathy, and the sensory anesthesia of those who see life passing by, not engaging, and without passion – with no existence - as a spectator. This is called Heeder, in Kabbalistic terms.
This Shavuot finds B’nei Israel closing a cycle and opening a new one.
May we be able to give sense to our Freedom with the Responsibility of taking control of our lives.

May we be able to make proper decisions to give and to build, regardless the unavoidable mistakes made by those that are open to take risks.

May it be possible that on this Shavuot we can recognize ourselves as divine vessels, to offer who we are and not only what we have.
Because we are few in numbers, it is even a fact that each one of us is important and necessary. Nobody should become absent in a Heeder. Nobody should remain apathetic or outcast. We need for each of us to bring the best in our baskets as our own Bikurim to the Temple of Jersualem.
The Mishnah says that all, without exception, brought their baskets. From the King Agripas all the way till the most humble peasant. All made equal on the consecration of the giving and the sacred act of handing out. Each with what they know, what they can and what they want to offer.
May we be able to notice and see our little fruits and be grateful for them with a joyous heart. Our fruits are our children.
May we be able to work to see them growing healthy and happy, prepared to confront a life that is many times hard, competitive and sometimes inhuman.
May we be able to see them transformed onto beings of light.
May this Shavuot allow us to walk thru life lighter, making space for the renewal of cycles, and the new things that we discover revealed in the Torah each time that we are open to receive it again, as we did in Sinai, when we study it, when we understand it and when we choose to live according to its values.
May we be able this Shavuot to find in our ancient tradition, the changes that move us away from the absence of content, that bring us near to the meaning of love, and even in some instances, to gift us with Shalom.
Translated by Ileanah Carazo