Tefillah - 036 Generation of Abundance

Geshem\Gashmiyus – The Materialism of The Body Will “Go Down” In The Future

In the second blessing of Shemoneh Esrei, which describes the resurrection of the dead, we say משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם – “He Who returns wind and brings down rain.” This is connected to the future resurrection of the dead, in which Hashem will bring down a spiritual rain that will revive the physical body and bring it back to life. This is the holy kind of “geshem”\rain of the future – the rain that will bring the soul back to the body.

A student of the Ramban explained that that Hashem will “return” the “wind” to a person in the future – man’s soul will be given back to him to revive his body – and the geshem\gashmiyus\materialism of the body will become purified in the process, so the body’s materialism will “go down.” We will focus the discussion here based on this interpretation of the student of the Ramban, that spirituality can weaken our body’s physicality.

The Abundance of Materialism In This Generation

As the generations go on, the spiritual level decreases.  Chazal say that each day is more cursed than the one before it. One of the main spiritual problems in our current generation is that we have an abundance of materialism. Our current generation is blessed with much opulence, the likes of which never were before.

The amount of material pleasures today is unparalleled. Our ancestors never dreamed that there would be so much food available like there is today.

In addition to the amount of materialism today, the magnitude of it as well is problematic to us. It causes people to constantly run after all kinds of new tastes that come out. Because there is such a wide array of different kinds of tastes that come out, this makes people always seek some new-tasting item that hits the market. There are two points contained in this phenomenon which we need to consider.

How To Use This World’s Pleasures

The Mesillas Yesharim says that everything in this world tests us. Materialism is a test, and the more a person attaches himself to materialism, the further he is from pursuing spirituality. What, then, is the purpose of materialism [such as food]? Its purpose is so that we can use it to have yishuv hadaas (peace of mind). Although Chazal say that we need to subsist on bread and water, we also need a little more than that, an amount that will be enough to satisfy our yishuv hadaas. In this way, we use Creation in the right way, and then Creation becomes elevated to holiness.

But if a person indulges in materialism, if he’s using it for more than just giving himself some yishuv hadaas, then he will become too attached to materialism. The more he gives in, the more he will want. “He who has a hundred, wants two hundred.” The materialism in his life is then being used for evil.

Rebbi was fabulously wealthy, and the table in his house was always set with the finest foods. Yet, the very same Rebbi stated that he did not derive any enjoyment from this world. What does this mean? Does it mean that he starved himself and never enjoyed any of his wealth? It means that he only enjoyed what was necessary for him to enjoy, in order to sustain his yishuv hadaas. Beyond that, he did not allow himself to enjoy.

However, even when a person is only enjoying this world for the sake of yishuv hadaas – a minimal amount of enjoyment so he can have some peace of mind – he is still in danger, because in the end of the day, he is still involving himself with materialism. He is in danger of becoming very connected to it.

In fact, even when it comes Shabbos and there is a mitzvah of Oneg Shabbos to have good food, the Vilna Gaon warns that one should not overeat on Shabbos, or else he will come to overeat during the weak as well. Instead of gorging into the food, a person should taste it and no more; “Those who taste of it [Shabbos] will merit life.” We need to “taste” the Shabbos food, but we should not get carried away and become a glutton.

We have to be careful not to indulge in this world, even when we have to make use of it. This is true even when we are using this world’s pleasure to give ourselves some yishuv hadaas; we have to always be wary of the Yetzer Hora. “Woe to me from my Creator, woe to my from my inclination.”

The Mesillas Yesharim says that we have to carefully weigh how we use materialism, to see if we really need something or not. We need to know if eating a certain food will bring us to have yishuv hadaas, or if it’s not really necessary for our yishuv hadaas. If we don’t need it for our yishuv hadaas, it binds us to this world and makes us entrenched in physicality, and then we won’t be able to grow spiritually.

The Need For Taste

That is with regards to the actual materialism of this world. But another point in this is the concept of tasting things. The reason why we people can be drawn after food can also be because people enjoy new tastes. We find the concept of taste by the manna. The manna was able to taste like anything you wanted. This is a separate discussion than the subject of being attached to materialism: the pursuit of new tastes.

In our generation, not only there is an abundant amount of materialism, but there are constantly new tastes that are coming out.  Rav Dessler zt”l explained the depth behind this: there is a special abundance of taste that is being poured down upon us from Heaven. He said that in the previous generations, in order for a person to really enjoy learning Torah, one had to exert himself very well to understand it. But these days, a person can enjoy the Torah even without working so hard to understand it – if he just merits to have a “taste” for the Torah, he enjoys it. In our generation, a person can merit the enjoyment of the Torah even if he just gets a little “taste” for it.

For this reason as well, there is a tremendous amount of Chiddushei Torah in today’s generation, much more than in the previous generations. The reason is because in our generation, a person merits success in his Torah learning as long as he tastes it and begins to enjoy it a little. With just having a taste in the Torah, a person can merit Chiddushei Torah, much more easily then in the previous generations.

This spiritual abundance is available to anyone who seeks it - we just have to seek it! But it is very readily available to us.

Any sensible person, when he reflects about the situation of our generation, can see that the amount of abundance these days is astounding. It is therefore very hard for a person these days to enter his inner, spiritual world. It is because we are surrounded with so much materialism.

In order to pull ourselves away from materialism, a person should seek the taste of Torah. If a person doesn’t satisfy his need for taste in the Torah, he will end up looking to satisfy it in other places, in the outside world.

Materialism is a test to us, as the Mesillas Yesharim states, but it is more than just a test. There is an abundance of taste in today’s generation – both when it comes to materialism, as well as when it comes to spirituality. A person has to make sure he is connecting to the abundance of spiritual taste that is readily available today, and this will offer him the real taste, which will prevent him from pursuing the superficial kinds of tastes in the outside, material world.

If a person is indulging in materialism, and he is too attached to trying out new tastes from the physical world, he has two major obstacles that are hampering his success in Torah learning. He won’t be able to taste the Torah!

Why People Aren’t Succeeding In Their Learning

Most of the generation is being raised with indulgence. People grew up with constantly fulfilling their physical desires, surrounded by so much food. For this reason, many people haven’t yet merited the taste of the Torah; they can’t even get their first real taste of it, because they are so used to material tastes.

However, Hashem has provided us with the remedy, even before the problem started; He has provided with the taste of Torah, which can counter the tastes of this world.

But, it’s very difficult for a person to enjoy the taste of Torah when a person is so used to the tastes of this physical world. If a person has already indulged too much in this world, he must do the following: he must clean himself out from all the physical pursuits. As it is written, “I have cleaned the house.”

Chazal say to subsist on bread and water. This is too hard for most people to do, but one thing is definitely true for all people: we all need to separate ourselves, to a large extent, from this world. If a person can set aside time every day in which he is detached from materialism and he is totally spiritual, this is wonderful. If someone can’t do this, at least he should aspire for such a kind of lifestyle and think of how wonderful it would be. He should think that he can do it.

Even if a person never sins, if he is attached to materialism, the Nefesh HaChaim writes that he lowers his soul in doing so. It is not possible for us to have any spiritual progress and develop our neshamah if we indulge in materialism. Our neshamah wants the real thing; it wants the taste of pleasure.

It is like the famous parable of the pauper who married the princess. The pauper did everything he tried to do to please the princess; he bought her the most expensive foods he could buy, but she was never satisfied. She was a princess; she had been used to the most royal food in the world, and nothing the pauper could bring her even came close to what she was used to. That is what our neshamah is like. There is no amount of physical pleasure that will satisfy our neshamah, because our neshamah comes from Above, from a realm of complete spirituality, and physicality doesn’t talk to it.

Practically Speaking

Practically speaking, to work on this, a person can hold himself back each day from eating a certain amount of food that he enjoys. This is called “Taanis HaRaavad”, the “fast of the Rav Avraham ben David” [who was the Sage that instituted a way to “fast” even as we eat].

There are a few ways how one can do it. 1) Either a person sets aside a piece of food on his plate and doesn’t eat it, 2) Or, he can eat the food very slowly, without indulging in it and wolfing it down, eating the food in steps.

Find The True Taste

We are not on the level of the Chazon Ish, who never indulged in good food. We have tasted lots of good food. How should we rectify this? Realize that the only reason you pursued all these tastes was because you didn’t merit to taste of the Torah. It was the power of taste being used in the wrong place. We can channel our need for taste to instead tap into the abundance of spiritual taste that has come to this generation – the taste of Chiddushei Torah – which is the real, pleasurable taste that our soul needs.

We must realize that there is an abundance of taste in the generation. If someone doesn’t find it in the taste of Torah success, he will look for it in other places, and the yetzer hora gets stronger each day. If you’re satisfied from Torah, you won’t look to try all the new tastes that come out every day.

May we merit to realize the true taste of pleasure on this world, which is the taste of Torah – and to enjoy the taste of Avodas Hashem and in chessed. Through this, may we merit to yearn for the truly good tastes of this world, as the possuk says, “Taste it and see it that it is good.”