The frog is saying, "Blessed is the Name of the honor of His Kingdom for all
eternity." (Talmud, Pesachim
56a)
Rabbi Elazar
of Modi'in would say: One who
profanes the kodashim ("holy things" consecrated for the
service of G-d in the Holy Temple), degrades the Festivals, humiliates his
friend in public, abrogates the covenant of our father Abraham (i.e.,
circumcision), or who interprets the Torah contrary to its true
intent---although he may possess Torah knowledge and good deeds, he has no
share in the World to Come.
Netzach shebeNetzach (victory and endurance within the context of victory
and endurance)
And we come to the twenty-fifth week, still in the
month of Adar, when the frog in Perek Shirah blesses His name and His
reign for all eternity, Baruch Shem Kevod
Malchuto L’Olam Va’ed (Talmud, Pesachim
56A). The frog also appears in the introduction to Perek Shirah, in a story of great personal self-sacrifice. The
frog's song is said every day, at least twice a day, since it is an essential
part of the prayer of the Shemah. The Shemah expresses our complete acceptance of the kingship of G-d, and of His commandments, with great self-sacrifice.
It also worth noting that this week marks the yahrzeit of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk.
Rebbe Elimelech completely exemplified self-sacrifice. One of his main meditative
techniques was to imagine throwing himself into a great pillar of fire in order
to sanctify G-d’s name. The technique would ensure that any other task he would
perform during the day would be on this same level of self-sacrifice.
The story of the frog in Perek Shirah’s introduction is a great example of how to be an
emissary with true self-sacrifice. G-d’s second plague upon Egypt was that of
frogs. The frogs would jump inside the ovens of the Egyptians, giving up their
lives without hesitation. Their self-sacrifice was later a source of
inspiration for Chananya, Misha’el and Azariah, who sanctified G-d’s name by
refusing to bow down to an idol, knowing full well they would be thrown into a
burning furnace. Miraculously, they emerged from the furnace unscathed.[1]
The second plague was in response to the fact that the
Egyptian taskmasters worked the Jewish people so hard in the open sun that they
had no time to eat or drink and felt completely dehydrated. Frogs are water
creatures and their bodies absorb moisture in order to survive. The Midrash teaches that during the plague,
a large number of frogs would search out and absorb all the moisture in Egypt,
making the Egyptians feel dehydrated as well. It is well known that water is a
metaphor for Torah. It is the job of the
sheliach is to find Torah and the
holy sparks of the Diaspora in order to absorb them and elevate them, searching
even in the driest of places. The reality is that we are all emissaries.[2]
Perek Shirah explains that the frog, as an amphibian, does what no
other animal can. It voluntarily serves as food for a land animal which feed
itself only from water animals. Again, using water as a metaphor for Torah, the
frog is willing to sacrifice its own life in order to bring Torah to those animals
on dry land. The frog tells King David that because of this self-sacrifice, Hashem will make it whole, will
complement it. Here again we see the idea that each Jew complements the other,
like the half-shekel giving during this month.
Interestingly, in Perek
Shirah itself, the frog again plays the role of bringing together land and
sea. The frog comes after the fish and before the sheep and goat, literally
making the link between the water animals of the month of Adar and the land animals of the month of Nissan and beyond.
The week of the frog always falls after the week of Purim
and close to the special Torah reading of Parah
(the animal of the second week of Nissan),
which is primarily about how to purify a person from the greatest source of
impurity (contact with the dead). Interestingly, the kohen that performs the purification also sacrifices himself by
becoming impure in the process, although only temporarily. A similar
self-sacrifice is performed by Queen Esther, who makes herself impure by marrying
King Achashverosh in order to save the entire Jewish people. It is also no
coincidence that Purim and Parah have such similar roots.
This dual role, superficially negative, yet extremely
positive, is found in the verse Baruch
Shem Kevod itself. The Talmud in Pessachim
suggests that this verse is somehow embarrassing to be said out loud, and that
is why we say it quietly. Some authorities state that this verse represents a
lower form of declaring G-d’s unity. However, many other famous commentaries
teach us that this saying was actually much higher, and said by the angels
themselves. We say it quietly only because it is too lofty for this world. The
only day that we say it openly is on Yom
Kippur, when we are all on the level of angels.[3]
As mentioned previously, angels are emissaries of G-d.
There are many other sources that connect the frog to
the idea of being a sheliach with
total self-sacrifice. There’s also a famous Midrash
that teaches that in fact the plague of frogs started out as only a single giant
frog. When the Egyptians would try to strike this single frog it would multiply
into many more mini-frogs, who in turn would also split into more, like
emissaries of the giant frog.
Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk is known as a “Rebbe of
Rebbes,” because the most prominent Polish Rebbes were all his disciples, or
disciples of his disciples. They were all like emissaries, continuing his
legacy. Among these giants are the Chozeh of Lublin (who would thank G-d an
hour a day for bringing down the soul of his Rebbe), the Ohev Yisrael (the
Apter Rov), the Rimanover, the Maggid of Kozhnitz, and many others. Rebbe Tzvi
Elimelech of Dinov, the Bnei Issachar, was his nephew.
This concept of shlichut
is found again in the words that the frog says to King David in the
introduction of Perek Shirah: “Every
song I say contains three thousand parables.” A parable represents the concept
of taking an idea and bringing down, so that it is more accessible to others.
The frog has three thousand other “emissaries” linked to its song. It is worth
noting that at the time of his passing, the Lubavitcher Rebbe had roughly three
thousand emissaries, and that today there are roughly three thousand Chabad
centers worldwide.
The three thousand parables are also comparable to the
three thousand men that "fell" by the hand of the Levites, who served
as Moses’ emissaries after the incident of the golden calf:
26. So Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said: "Whoever is
for the Lord, [let him come] to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered
around him.
27. He said to them: "So said the Lord, the G-d of Israel: 'Let
every man place his sword upon his thigh and pass back and forth from one gate
to the other in the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his
friend, every man his kinsman.'
28. The sons of Levi did according to Moses' word; on that day some
three thousand men fell from among the people.
Perhaps the phrased “roughly three thousand men” is a
reference to the men of Levi, who followed the word of Moses, falling upon
those that needed to be punished.
In fulfilling Moses’ word, the Levites acted with
extreme self-sacrifice and did not consider brother and friend. This was an
extremely positive behavior at the time, but perhaps still required a sort of tikkun, correction. In contrast, the
Chabad shluchim consider everyone to be their brother and friend,
and treat them as such. Chabad shluchim also
“fall” from their pure and holy lifestyle in order to reach out to those that
need guidance.
Similarly, three thousand halachot were forgotten at the time of
the mourning for Moses. Perhaps the three thousand shluchim, who methodically study the Rebbe’s words, are a tikkun for this as well.
The term “roughly three thousand men”
also appears in the story of Samson, which he also showed extreme
self-sacrifice, to the point of giving up his life.
27. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the
lords of the Philistines were there. And upon the roof (there were) about three thousand men and women, the
spectators of Samson's sport.
(...)
30. And Samson said, "Let my soul die with the
Philistines," and he bent with (his) might, and the house fell upon the
lords, and upon all the people that were therein. And the dead that he killed
at his death were more than he had killed in his lifetime.[4]
Like the kohen that performs the purification through the red heifer, and
Queen Esther in the Purim story, Samson was willing to sacrifice himself, both
spiritually and physically, in order to bring redemption to the Jewish people.
The verses above also appear to make a slight reference to Purim. Verse 27
states that there were about three thousand men and women “upon the roof.” In
the original Hebrew, this part is written, “Al
haGag.” In Aramaic, it would be “Agag.”
Haman was a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites. At the end of the
Purim story, not only are Haman and his sons killed, but also 75,000 (25 x
3,000) Amalekites.[5]
The number twenty-five is connected to the Jewish
festival of Chanukah, since this
festival, as well as the dedication of the Temple that is celebrated on this
day took place on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev.
The word “Chanukah” itself means “Chanu” (they rested) - “Kah” (twenty-five), a reference to the
twenty-fifth of Kislev. The
twenty-fifth letter in the Torah is “or,”
a reference to the light of Chanukah.
The Chashmonaim
played a dual role of both the kohanim
and the kings. Rebbe Elimelech (whose name means “G-d is my King”) also had a
strong complementary relationship with his saintly brother, the Tzadik Reb
Zusya of Anipoli.
This week in Pirkei
Avot, Rabbi Elazar of Modi’in teaches that he who profanes holy
objects/animals, degrades the festivals, publicly humiliates his neighbor,
repeals the covenant of our father Abraham (circumcision) and interprets the
Torah in a way that is opposed to its true meaning - even if they have Torah
and good deeds, they have no part in the World to Come.
During this week, just after Purim, we begin preparing
for Passover. The Shulchan Aruch, the
Code of Jewish Law, explains that one should prepare for Passover thirty days
before the festival. During these days it is customary to give money to the
poor (Maot Chitim) so that they too
can properly celebrate Passover. And see the tremendous connection with Pirkei Avot, namely:
1) “Profaning the holy" appears to be a reference to
the times of the Temple, when everyone had to bring the Passover sacrifice. The
animal and subsequently the meat of the sacrifice were sacred and had to be
treated properly.
2) "Degrading the festivals" is a more direct
reference to the importance to the festival of Passover, both in its physical
preparations (destroying the physical chametz,
yeast and other leavened breads) and spiritual preparations (eliminating the
inner spiritual chametz, our egotism
and inflated self-importance).
3) "Publicly humiliating his neighbor"
relates to the charity given in advance of the holiday, so no one should feel
ashamed of having to beg for money in order to celebrate Passover.
4) "Revoking the covenant of Abraham our father"
is related to circumcision. Passover is linked to Abraham, because it was on
Passover that angels came to visit him and Sarah, and Abraham gave them matzot to eat. Also, just before the
first Passover in Egypt, all the men of the people underwent circumcision.
Again, 40 years later, before entering Israel, Joshua made all men undergo
circumcision. During the 40 years in the desert no men were circumcised. In the
days of the Temple, those who were not circumcised they could not eat the
Passover sacrifice.
5) "Interpreting the Torah in a way that is
opposed to its true meaning" relates to the various legal rulings that are
made during Passover cleaning. Cleaning the house for Passover and preparing
for the Seder involves a lot of work.
It is therefore easy to find excuses not to have to clean so much: "After
all, by Torah law is it not enough simply to verbally nullify the chametz?" Hence the importance of
this teaching: we have to do everything possible to strictly adhere to the
letter and the spirit of the Law, each one at his or her own spiritual level.
The list of wrongdoings mentioned by Rabbi Elazar also
relates to problems that occurred during the time period of Chanukah. The Greeks defiled the sacred
objects of the Temple; they were against celebrating sacred dates, such as Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh. The Hellenistic Jews had no shame and fought naked in
gymnasiums, many even reversed their circumcision. Hellenistic Jews, Saducees,
and other cults also sought to corrupt the true interpretations of the Torah,
and the Greeks tried to misrepresent the sacred nature of the Torah, and forced
it to be translated into Greek.
This week, the sefirot
combination results in netzach
shebenetzach, victory within victory. This week represents the midpoint and
link between the victory and redemption of Adar
(Purim), with the victory and redemption of Nissan
(Passover). Twenty-five is also exactly midway through the Counting of the Omer, linking the two
different modes of divine service related to the first and second halves of the
year. (See Appendix I)
The lesson we learn from the frog is that we must
serve G-d with great self-sacrifice, remembering how temporary our stay is on
this Earth, and how we are infinitely small and limited when compared to G-d.
[1] “Chananya, Mishael,
and Azarya,” Nissan Mindel, Kehot Publication Society. Available at: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112288/jewish/Chananya-Mishael-and-Azarya.htm
[2] “There is not the
vaguest shadow of doubt that, wherever our feet tread, it is all in order to
cleanse and purify the world with words of Torah and tefilla (prayer).
We, all of Israel, are emissaries of G-d, each of us as Divine Providence has
decreed for us. None of us is free from this sacred task placed on our
shoulders.” Hayom Yom, 5th
of Adar I.
[3] Rav Mordecai
Kornfeld, available at http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/dafyomi2/pesachim/insites/ps-dt-056.htm
[4] Judges 16: 27-30
[5] Esther 9:16
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