Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Build With Daas

The Gemorah in Berachos (33a) says וְאָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר: כׇּל אָדָם שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ דֵּעָה כְּאִילּוּ נִבְנָה בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ בְּיָמָיו.  Why is having דעה as if one rebuilt the Mikdash?
Rashi in Vayigash says the crying of Yosef and Binyomin one each other's necks alluded to crying for the Mishkan and Mikdash.  The connection to the neck and Mikdash is already found in Chazal on Shir Hashirim (4:4)  כְּמִגְדַּ֤ל דָּוִיד֙ צַוָּארֵ֔ךְ בָּנ֖וּי לְתַלְפִּיּ֑וֹת.  Why is the Mikdash connected to the neck?
A person naturally has the desire to do the right thing.  However, that is a mere intellectual truth, not the way a person feels.  There is a great distance between mind and heart.  When one goes to the Mikdash and feels the experience שמשם שואבין רוח הקודש, that distance is mitigated.  That is why the Mikdash is referred to as the neck, the bridge between the mind and the body. 
Chazal mean by אָדָם שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ דֵּעָה as one who's hearty and mind are connected.  One who has דעת is one who's emotions and feelings line up with their intellectual understanding.
 ידע שור קנהו וחמור אבוס בעליו ישראל לא ידע עמי לא התבונן.  What is the comparison, the animal's only though process is to get food, man is bothered by great questions of saving the world from pandemics, social justice and all other great endeavors; man has the ability to rebel?  Because at our base we recognize Hashem just as the animal recognizes its master.  It is only the lack of  ישראל לא ידע, the lack of דעת that distracts us.

1 comment:

  1. Perhaps that's why da'as is the trait mention in the vision of the future for Chabakuk 2:14

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