HOW THE TZADDIK BRINGS STRAW TO STRAW

For a long time, I've been touched by the idea of Torah 11: how the tzaddik emes tries to instill deep Torah understanding in his followers, who might be on a a very low spiritual level. Rabbeinu explains this idea through the question (brought in the Talmud) that Pharaoh's sorcerers asked Moshe Rabbeinu when he performed a lot of miracles in Egypt: "תבן אתה מכניס לעפרים?" ("Why are you bringing straw to Afarayim?") Afarayim was a place with a lot of granaries, literally bursting with grain,. so that it didn't make sense to bring even more grain there.  The magicians thought that Moshe Rabbeinu, too, performed his miracles through sorcery, so they challenged him why he was brining his sorcery to Egypt, which was already full of magic.

This is the simple meaning. But Rabbeinu shows that their real intention was much more sinister. The word "תבן" ("straw") is related to "תבונה" ("deep understanding"), while the word "עפרים" has the same root as "עפר" ("dust"). So what the sorcerers were really challenging was Moshe Rabbeinu's determination to bring deep understanding of Torah to the Jewish people, who at that time were on such a low spiritual level that they could be compared to dust.

I recently started learning Torah 11 again, and yesterday I was feeling particularly pessimistic about this whole idea. I asked myself: what chance does Rabbeinu stand with me? I'm so weak and so steeped in gashmius that it's impossible for me not only to have deep Torah understanding but even to really want it. But then I thought of something that gave me a lot of chizuk. The word "עפרים", which in this Torah denotes people on a very low level, has the same gematria as the word "שק" ("a sack").

This reminded me of a famous story that took place when Reb Noson first became a follower of Rabbeinu. Reb Noson was encountering a l lot of opposition from all sides, so Rabbeinu said, in order to reassure him: "I've already caught you in my sack!" To which Reb Noson responded, "Tie it tighter! Tie it tighter so I can't escape!"

So I thought: if I, too, become "caught in the sack of Rabbeinu", then I do stand a chance! Again, the commentaries to this Torah stress that, after all is said and done, it's only attachment to the tzaddik that will allow a person to emerge from their low level and to reach deep understanding of Torah.

And then I thought of something even more fascinating.The word "עפרים" that, as we said, signifies a very low spiritual level, also has the same gematria is "קש" ("straw"). But the word "תבן" that denotes a very high level of understanding, seemingly the complete opposite, also means "straw"! So, if we use gematrias, the sorcerers' question really becomes, "Why are you bringing straw to straw?"

What this probably means is that it's impossible to give to a person something they don't already have. This is related to what Rabbeinu says in Torah 188: that the tzaddik emes returns to everyone what they have lost, the main loss being the loss of Torah. We were all taught Torah by an angel in the mother's womb (and yes, I do believe that women were also taught something!), but then we forgot it,  and now the tzaddik is bringing this knowledge back to us. So our hope lies not only in being attached to the tzaddik, but also in the fact that whatever he is trying to give us is buried somewhere deep inside of us, and the tzaddik is just helping us realize that we do have it already and to really bring it forth.

This also ties in with the simple meaning of the magicians' words about bringing straw to Afarayim. After all, they wanted to say that Afarayim was full of straw already! With this, I was reminded of the Eleventh Rule in the famous Eighteen Rules of understanding "Likutei Moharan" brought in the "Biyur HaLikutim" commentary. It says that, whenever Rabbeinu quotes a passuk or a Midrash and explains its deeper dimension, his explanation always remains true to the peshat.

What this all comes down to is that, according to Rabbeinu, even people on a very low level do have a chance of reaching deep understanding of Torah. But, to really get there, we have a lot of work to do, as Rabbeinu goes on to explain. So, with this renewed hope, I'm going to continue studying (and living) Breslov.