Parshas בהעלותך- Learning to Connect

We read in the Parsha how כלל ישראל complained about the מן and cried that they lacked the variety of foods they enjoyed in מצרים. This caused משה רבינו to say to הקב”ה

לא אוכל אנוכי לבדי לשאת את כל העם הזה

It’s too difficult for me to carry all כלל ישראל alone.

Immediately following that episode, when אהרן and מרים speak לשון הרע on משה רבינו, the Torah describes Moshe’s greatness:

פה אל פה אדבר בו ומראה ולא בחידות ותמונת ה’ יביט

Hashem Speaks to him mouth to mouth, greater than any other נביא.

Although he struggled by being alone, it seems clear that this is what caused רבינו משה to be the greatest man to ever live. How do we understand this?

The Ramchal in ספר דרך עץ החיים writes, that a person who wants to grow in his רוחניות should try to spend time thinking about where he’s standing in his רוחניות, and what can he do to grow even more.

This concept, which is known as התבודדות is already found in the תורה, where the פסוק says about יצחק אבינו

וילך יצחק לשוח בשדה

Yitzchok went out on his own to the fields to be מתבודד and connect to Hashem. The ביאור הלכה in הלכות תענית writes:

יום אחד בשבוע יתרחק מבני אדם ויתבודד בינו לבין קונו ויתקשר מחשבתו בו…וידבר לקל יתברך כאשר ידבר העבד אל רבו ובן אל אביו.

This is what התבודדות is all about. Leaving all the distractions behind and spending time alone. Alone with oneself, and alone with Hashem. And while it’s true that social interactions and companionship are necessary in a person’s life, there is also the need to, at times, disconnect from everything else, and connect only with oneself and with Hashem.

And it’s through התבודדות that a person can develop himself to greater heights.

We can now understand why after highlighting Moshe’s solitude, the תורה goes on to express his greatness. It’s through his ability to disconnect and be מתבודד that he became the greatest man to ever live.

We’ll conclude with a story that highlights this point. Harav Yaakov Galinsky was a young boy learning in 1 of the many branches of the Novardok Yeshiva in prewar Poland, when he began feeling a רפיון- a weakness in his drive to learn.

Frustrated, he turned to his Rebbe, who advised him to travel to the large Yeshiva in Bialestock, where one of the senior boys would hopefully engrain him with some חזוק. Upon reaching Bialestock and introducing himself to the senior בחור, he was advised to start off by going to a small empty Shul down the block and learning Mussar by the candellight.

Says Rav Galinsky ” I entered the dark Shul and sat down to learn, when I heard a soft and haunting voice coming from the עזרת נשים upstairs. Someone was learning Mussar there. That voice was repeating a גמרא in Shabbos: אמר ליה שמואל לרב יהודה

. שיננא, חטוף ואכול, חטוף ושתי, כי האי עלמא דאזלינן מיניה כבי הילולא דמיא.”

Said Shmuel to his Talmid Rav Yehuda: Grab and eat, grab and drink, as this world is like a wedding party- its only the time that you have here in which you can aquire נצחיות.

The voice from upstairs repeated these words over and over again, penetrating the heart of the young Rav Galinsky. He returned to the senior בחור and said, ” I don’t need any more חזוק, I already received it.” And with that he returned to his Yeshiva, eventually going on to become a great בעל מוסר.

It was only later that he learned that the individual learning מוסר, was none other than the great Steipler Gaon.

Indeed, practicing התבודדות is a key to becoming an elevated person.

Have a Good Shabbos >