חכמת האדם חן היראה
The wisdom of man, the favor of fear (of Hashem). We do not regularly associate fear of Hashem with חן. חן refers to an immediate appeal. We might consider יראה to be proper and admirable, but we aren’t drawn to it. It has no חן. Yet the Rokeach is telling us that יראה should have חן. Why don’t we see it?
Truthfully, this lack of appeal is easily understood. Simply put, יראה makes a person nervous. That makes sense: our obligation towards Hashem is limitless. For sure, we comfort ourselves: “That’s not our way, Hashem doesn’t want us be nervous”, etc. Still, how could we be attracted to something which inspires anxiety? If you meet a person who is anxious about his obligations to Hashem, you might think the world of him; you can find in him every מעלה. One thing, however, is sure to be missing- he has no חן.
The element which makes יראה appealing is חכמת האדם. חכמת האדם means the wisdom of man. A person must reach the level where his intellect dictates action. Not in the sense of a deep understanding, but in a simple, direct, natural way. He becomes accustomed to obligations; not in the sense that he is “restrained”, but as we would we refer to it, in a “normal” way. Thus, a person can also relate to fear of Hashem as a normal reaction to the Divine Intellect. Only then will yiraas Hashem possess חן.
זרע שלום זכרון טוב
Peaceful descendants, a good remembrance. People often misunderstand the meaning of זכרון. They associate זכרון with a photograph. And while we may not remember as well as a camera, they assume it’s the same idea. But זכרון actually means to connect to the essence of the object, not every detail. If you try to conjure an image in your mind, you won’t see it exactly; even vision itself doesn’t work that way.
What does זרע שלום refer to? “וראה בנים לבניך שלום על ישראל”—And see sons (born) to your sons, Shalom on Yisroel. (תהלים קכח) There is Shalom when the family continues. People at times speak about leaving a “legacy” for their family. But if their descendants just copy some specific custom, etc., that’s not a legacy, it’s a photograph. When you think about the future of your family, you don’t know what their life circumstances will be, nor the challenges they will face. It’s not always possible to be a “photograph” of earlier generations. What future generations need to take from those who preceded them is not a “photograph”, but rather a זכרון טוב, which is the essence. Matters of essence are forever relevant and can carry on to and strengthen the next generations.
קיום מצות קדושה ופרישות
What’s the difference between קדושה and פרישות? My Rebbeim taught me that קדושה is the ability to see the world in a deeper, more subtle way. The messages we receive from the world are not crude, “thick”. For example, when you see an apple, what do you think: taste and pleasure, or הכרת הטוב? Since we see pleasure, our berachos look how they do- we say the beracha as we are already sticking the food into our mouths. We see a world of pleasure, not of הכרת הטוב. קדושה is when you see the deeper, subtler meaning.
There is a danger, however, when you try to approach the world with קדושה. You become enmeshed with the תאוות of the world. We connect with physical desire seamlessly and powerfully. It is all too easy for someone looking for קדושה to find himself part of a world of תאוה. That’s where פרישות, separation comes in. With פרישות, the person is not completely part of the physical world; he’s not fully connected. If a person only has פרישות, the physical world remains a dark place: just that he’s not part of it. If a person has only קדושה, the physical world will suck him in. With both, he’s separate enough from the world that he can relate to it in a deeper way.
Mitzvos direct us to this point of קדושה and פרישות, that we relate to the world in a deeper way, without getting sucked in. Mitzvos are a complete world; really our world, only with a completely different message. Benching changes the message of food. Tzitzis changes the message of clothing. This is an intellectual avodah, to learn from the mitzvos, and in that way allow them to change your world.