Hello Everyone,
Today we continued with Rabbeinu Bachya’s discussion of חשבון הנפש. חשבון הנפש has two components. It is the honest examination of how we perform mitzvoth in order to find the areas which need improvement. It also involves an analysis of our beliefs and if we are “practicing what we preach.” Rabbeinu Bachya says that חשבון הנפש encompasses numerous areas of our lives, but that he will limit the discussion to thirty points.
For the purpose of our shiur I will not discuss all thirty points raised by Rabbeinu Bachya. I will limit the shiurim to points that I think are unique to Rabbeinu Bachya’s approach to Judaism and mussar.
In today’s shiur we studied the ninth point raised by Rabbeinu Bachya. Rabbeinu Bachya writes that חשבון הנפש requires us to examine if we perform mitzvoth with the same zeal that we would perform a task commanded by a king.
I think that most of us would acknowledge that we would come up short in such an examination, and if Rabbeinu Bachya would have left the ninth point with only this observation we would simply nod in agreement and move on to the next point. But Rabbeinu Bachya chose this point to begin a discussion on prayer and his interpretation of the Halachic concept of מצוות צריכות כוונה. This discussion is not only interesting but presents the uniqueness of Rabbeinu Bachya’s thought on the proper performance of mitzvoth.
The discussion on prayer opens with a review of the classification of mitzvoth into three categories:
א) חובות הלבבות
ב) חובות האברים
ג)חובות הלבבות והגופות ביחד.
This classification is of much more than a system for making order out of the 613 mitzvot. Rabbeinu Bachya says that each category indicates a particular requirement for the performance of its mitzvoth.
The requirement in question is “.כוונה” “כוונה” in the view of most commentators means “intention” and when the Gemarah explores the necessity for performing mitzvoth with כוונה /intention the Gemarah is asking if for a mitzvah to be valid it needs to be done with conscious will to fulfill a particular religious duty. To take one example: There is a mitzvah hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. If as I walk to my usual synagogue on Rosh Hashnah I pass by another synagogue where the shofar is being blown and I hear the all shofar-blasts required by the Halacha, have I fulfilled the mitzvah? Have I discharged my obligation? According to the opinion of מצוות אין צריכות כוונה I have indeed performed the mitzvah, and I don’t need to hear the shofar a second time. According to the opinion מצוות אין צריכות כוונה I have not fulfilled the mitzvah. Even though I heard all that I need to hear, since I did not intend to fulfill the mitzvah at that moment an essential component of the mitzvah was lacking, and that component is called כוונה .The ruling in Shulcahn Aruch is that מצוות צריכות כוונה.
The כוונה of the Shulcahn Aruch is a momentary decision. The person chooses to perform a mitzvah at this time via this act. During the actual performance of the mitzvah, though it is certainly not ideal, his or her mind can be “a million miles away.” Great tzaddikim certainly are focused on their mitzvoth, be it eating matzah at the Seder Pesach or hearing the shofar. However, for the rest of us, as long as we perform the mitzvah for the purpose of discharging the particular obligation we have successfully executed the mitzvah.
Rabbeinu Bachya takes מצוות צריכות כוונהin a different direction. There are mitzvoth which require conscious engagement throughout their performance and there are mitzvoth which require us to “enter” the mitzvah in a state of spiritual elevation, full of thanks for Hashem for allowing us to serve Him via the mitzvah. When the mitzvoth require a state of conscious, continuous engagement this is because they are in the category of the mitzvoth which require כוונה. When the mitzvoth “only” require an initial state of religious exultation it is because they do not require כוונה. Rabbeinu Bachya who dedicates his work to shaking us out of our complacency and to jolting us out of the rote performance of mitzvoth apparently could not abide a fleeting moment of intention as meeting the criterion for כוונה in mitzvoth.
Which mitzvoth require כוונה? Rabbeinu Bachya says that they are the חובות הלבבות, such as the mitzvah to believe in God. There is of course a mitzvah to believe in God, and in theory it is a mitzvah that a person could (and should) perform continuously. In theory every Jew believes in God all the time, 24/7. But are we really fulfilling the mitzvah? If while I am reading a newspaper, someone would ask me, “Stu, do you believe in God?” I would answer, “Of course.” This answer to such an important question mocks the mitzvah of Belief in God. Belief in God needs to dominate one’s consciousness. If my attention is focused on the newspaper it certainly is not focused on God. Therefore, in order to fulfill the mitzvoth of the mind, the חובות הלבבות, a person needs to be totally involved in those thoughts, and those are the mitzvoth which require כוונה.
Prayer requires a similar level of concentration. As Rabbeinu Bachya explains, prayer is a mitzvah which involves both the mind and the body. A person who is distracted while praying and allows his mind to wander is squandering his opportunity to speak with God and certainly is not fulfilling the mitzvah of prayer.
Again, Rabbeinu Bachya challenges us to raise the level of our observance. The Halacha does not reflect this demand. Ideally we would concentrate on every word of our Shmoneh Esrei, but the Halacha rules that as long as we concentrate on the words of the first bracha our prayer is valid. Similarly we should concentrate on every word of the Shma, but as long as we say the opening verse with כוונה we fulfill the mitzvah.
We ended the shiur with a teshuvah of the Noda BeYehudah. When the Chassidic movement took hold in Eastern Europe many communities adopted the Chassidic prayer-book which was influence by the Kabalistic teachings of the Ari z”l. One innovation of this siddur was the recital of the prayer לשם ייחוד קוב”ה before the performance of a mitzvah. This prayer has deep Kabbalistic meaning which not everyone understands and the Noda BeYehudah was asked to explain it. The Noda BeYehudah wrote a blistering reply saying that there is no need to introduce changes into the prayer book, and there is certainly no reason to introduce esoteric Kabbalistic formulae into the siddur.
The proponents of saying לשם ייחווד קוב”ה claimed that this prayer links the כוונה of the mitzvah to the act of the mitzvah. I would add that what Chassidim and mystics mean by כוונה is entirely different from even Rabbeinu Bachyas כוונה which entirely exoteric in nature.
To this claim the Noda BeYehudah replied that as far as כוונה is concerned it is dealt with by saying a bracha before performing the mitzvah. When we say the words of the bracha we are thanking Hashem and praising Him for allowing us to serve him via His mitzvoth. And this indeed is the כוונה demanded by Rabbeinu Bachya (if only we would pay attention to what we say dozens of times a day). If a mitzvah has no bracha, it is enough to say that one is performing this act to fulfill God’s will. And if the mystics are worried about the mystical ramifications our mitzvoth, then we rest assured that these mystical mechanisms go into motion automatically without the need to say Kabbalistic prayers.
So that was yesterday’s shiur. There is a tension between the ideal and the “enough” in all walks of life and religious life is no exception. The Gemarah says that there were pious people who would meditate for an hour before and after their prayers , but the Halacha says it’s enough if we concentrate on the first verse of Shma and the first blessing of Shmoneh Esrei. Rabbeinu Bachya tries to re-energize our lives with his form of mussar and the Chassidic movement tried to accomplish the same thing by introducing Kabbalistic ideas to the masses. In my own lifetime I saw the rise (and demise) of a Jewish renewal movement espoused in a book called The First Jewish Catalogue . Rote and routine may be viewed as signs of a dead spirit but the Halacha recognizes that we are human with very real and spirit-crushing obligations. The Halacha therefore values our admittedly meager efforts and rules:
אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט ובלבד שיכוון לבו לשמים
Thanks to everyone who attended the shiur, Stuart Fischman