Daf Yomi, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Torah and Psychology, Marriage Counseling, Psychotherapy
Our Gemara on Amud Aleph mentions the miraculous process by which shards of earthenware vessels were absorbed in their place, which we discussed yesterday in one context. There were a number of similar “absorption” miracles in the Temple, as explained in the Gemara Yoma (21a):
“Shards of earthenware vessels were swallowed in the earth in their places, and there was no need to dispose of them. The shards of those vessels were miraculously swallowed in the earth where they were smashed. And similarly, Abaye said: The crop and feathers of sacrificial birds, and the ashes of the inner altar, and the ashes of the candelabrum, which were not removed to the place of ashes outside the Temple like the ashes of the outer altar, were also swallowed in the earth in their places. Apparently, there were more than ten miracles in the Temple.”
What is the message of these miracles? Chasam Sofer (Tzav) explains that these miracles symbolize the ideal process of the sacrifices themselves, which is also symbolic for something deeper. Chasam Sofer notes that the Ramban says the Torah never discusses the reward in the World to Come because the world of the soul is not the focus of the Torah. The soul naturally benefits from its state of attachment to God. The concern of the Torah is the state of the body (and the physical world). Through proper observance of Torah and mitzvos, the body becomes so elevated that it experiences a version of heaven on earth (the upper and lower Garden of Eden). The near-total consumption of the sacrifice, with the small physical remnants (ashes, feathers, shards), represents the aspect of the body and physical world that remain even after great purification and elevation in service of God. This final portion, like the body of the Tzaddik, ultimately also gets absorbed by the Temple grounds, and this is the final stage of achievement when the physical body and physical world can experience heaven on earth, the highest form of attachment to God possible for physical matter.
This discussion underscores the Torah’s relation to the physical world and the way in which physical matter is liberated through a process of engagement in it via a Torah life. See the last chapter of Mesilas Yesharim, where he spells out in detail how only after fully abnegating physical lusts and desire can a great Tzaddik be miraculously granted the ability to experience the pleasures of this world as divine service and elevation, as if he were the Altar itself.
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, LMFT, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com