Dvar Torah for LaG b'Omer

Rebbe Shimon says, 'Why does the Torah write Ôwhen a man takes a wife' (Deuteronomy 22:13; which implies even against her will), rather than Ôwhen a woman consents to be taken as a wife' [which is the halakhah]? Because it is the way of a man to look for a wife, rather than for a woman to look for a husband. When a person loses something, who goes looking for whom? The one who has lost goes looking for what he lost.Ó
Kiddushin 2b

Before a person is born, he is shown what he has to accomplish in this world. As he leaves the womb, however, he is struck and forgets it all. He spends the rest of his lifetime searching. Where will he find what he has lost? By the tzaddik.

The Rebbe Shimon quoted above is Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai, author of the holy Zohar, whose yortzeit (anniversary of demise) is LaG b'Omer (the 33rd day of the Omer, Thursday night). Thousands of people travel to his grave site on this day so that his merit will stand them in good stead when they pray.

We go to the tzaddik to look for and identify what we have lost, and re-receive it. The tzaddik returns our loss only if we are not frauds or liars. If a person comes looking to get what is not his, the tzaddik will not return. He cannot be fooled by hypocrisy. A greater problem is getting the seeker to realize what is his.

The tzaddik wants to return what is lost to its rightful owner. He can only do so if the owner asks. If a person is in denial–he lies to himself and defrauds himself–he won't recognize what is his and he won't get it back. As we saw in Parshat Tazria-Metzora, we have the treasure, somewhere in our own home. It remains lost only as long as we deny its existence and as long as we deny the obstacles that face us.

The tzaddik says: Come to me. Let me touch you, let me teach you. Realize who you are and you are not, and I'll show you who you can be.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!