Concepts Test, flag Nun Samech - Nes Run away Miracle In the word Nes, the letters are a pictograph. The nun represents a humble person with his head bent, and the samech, which means support, represents Hashem s support of the humble person who has simple faith. 1 The letters of the Ten Commandments are burned all the way through the tablets. The middle of the samech is like a hanging donut without any visible means of support. Thus, the humble person meditates on Hashem s support, which is often hidden. Nes has four levels of meaning corresponding to the four options that B nei Yisroel had when leaving Egypt. These options, in turn, correspond to the four levels of consciousness described on page (?). The first level of consciousness is assiyah. It is the most contracted. At this level, nes means run away. Difficult decisions in which one is torn between options are often fear provoking. The default option is to run away from the conflict, leading to avoidance and denial. This is the least effective approach to problem solving. In the Torah, there are many examples of this approach. There are many people in the Torah who have run away from their problems. Adam, Noach, Lot and King Solomon all got drunk to avoid facing their problems. Yaacov would rather bribe his brother, Esau and avoid talking about the anger between them than have a truthful confrontation about their situation. Isaac would rather be a target for Ishmael s archery than confront him about the jealousy that exists between them. Avraham would rather tell Pharoah and AviMelech that Sarah is his sister than confront them with the truth. At the Red Sea, some of the Jews wanted to join the Egyptians in killing Jews and return to slavery in Egypt. They did not want to confront Egyptian power. At this level, a person always
wants to please whoever has the power in the situation. Most people practice denial, pretending that nothing is wrong in order to avoid telling the truth in a confrontation. The desire for an external rescue often leaves people stuck without a solution to their problems. It takes a great deal of courage to avoid this first level of consciousness. Assiyah means doing without thought. At this level a person is only reacting, rather than making a conscious choice. Nes means miracle in yetzira, the second level of consciousness. Often people pray to be rescued from a problem. They hope that something will happen which doesn t require initiative on their part and will save them from confronting the problem. There is not as much self-sabotage at this level, as in assiyah, but it is an ineffective way to solve problems. It depends on solutions coming from outside of oneself. This leads to a co-dependence with Hashem, as is demonstrated in the story of Noach. Noach was co-dependent with his depressed father. Noach s father asked Noach to rescue him from his depression from working the land. In response, Noach created the plow. And Lamech called his son Noach saying, this one will bring us rest from the actions and the depression of our hands from working the land, which has been cursed by Hashem. 2. Noach went from comforting a depressed father to comforting a depressed G-d. Hashem reconsidered having made man on earth, and he depressed himself to his heart. 3 Noach told Avraham at the tower of Bavel that he was co-dependent with Hashem in asking for miracles as symbolized by the ark--that saved him from the flood. Noach walked with Hashem. 4 At the Red Sea, people prayed for Hashem to save them from the Egyptians. Hashem said, Why are you screaming at me? Get moving! 5 While Joseph was in prison, he prayed for Hashem to rescue him. Hashem said, Hate got you into prison. Love has to get you out. In the future, Joseph would solve the problem by bringing his family back together rather than getting revenge for how unfairly he was treated. Yetzirah means sculpting and narrowness. One must confront the darkness of the problem even without a solution. Praying for a miracle is superior to running away. The third level of consciousness, briyah nes -- means test. Seeing a problem as a test allows the person to look for appropriate solutions within oneself. It takes him out of the victim role that dominates the first two levels. Victor Frankl was a
Holocaust survivor. In Man s Search for Meaning, he wrote that the people who survived the concentration camps asked the question, What does this situation demand from me now?, rather than ask why me, and why am I being treated so unfairly? 6 Avraham was the first person to organize his life into ten tests. A test is an ambiguous situation in which Hashem is not talking to the person and the person must do the best they can without a clear direction. When Noach got off the ark, Hashem wasn t talking to him and Noach fell apart, got drunk, blacked out naked, and was sodomized by his son. Avraham describes ten tests, each one more ambiguous than the one before. Even though Hashem was not talking to him or directing him, he could feel Hashem behind him. The test was Avraham s radical contribution that created a spiritual revolution in the world. He chose to see his problems as tests from Hashem for him to learn from rather than punishments. Both Avraham and Noach had faith in Hashem, but Avraham introduced the concept of a partnership of collaboration between humans and Hashem. In Avraham s first test, he was thrown into a furnace by his father and Nimrod. Avraham survived the furnace, but his brother Haran who followed him there, perished. Avraham had to explain to his niece and nephew why Sarah and Lot s father Haran had perished while Avraham was saved. To compensate, he felt obligated to take care of Sarah and Lot the rest of their lives. The second test was when Hashem told him to go to the Promised Land, where He d created a severe drought. In this test, Avraham had to provide water for his many students. He chooses the best option he can think of: to lead everyone to the Nile River in Egypt. The problem was, Pharaoh wanted to rape all beautiful women who d arrived in Egypt, and kill their husbands. The best Avraham could think of was to tell Sarah to lie and say she was his sister. This exposed her to rape, but saved their lives. In the next test, Avraham saves Lot, feeling terribly guilty about having to kill people to rescue him. When later on he learns Lot had committed drunken incest with his daughters, he feels even guiltier. In the test with Ishmael and Hagar, Avraham has to clarify his love for two wives and two sons. In his last test, Avraham thinks he must sacrifice his son, when in fact all he had to do was get him out of the tent and on his own. In all these tests, Avraham appears to have
failed. Avraham s great courage is in that he can write a story that makes him look bad. This ability to not cover up things in his life that are questionable is unique among the heroes of history. Avraham s concept of the test is as revolutionary today as it is 3,000 years ago. Upon closer examination, the miracles that occurred during the 40 years in the Sinai desert evolve into tests. The Red Sea parted layer by layer in response to the Jews courage and forward progress. B nei Yisrael camped 42 times while crossing the Sinai and each of the 42 camps was a particular test for the people, which they appeared to have failed. They d learned from Avraham not to cover up ambiguous situations where they looked bad. For example, the manna fell for each person at the distance that indicated the closeness of the person s relationship to Hashem. If the relationship was good, the manna would fall close to the person s tent, and if it was bad, the person had to walk a long way to retrieve his portion of manna. Test means that one learn from difficult situations rather than seeking rescue. In a test, one has to reach within oneself for creative solutions to problems. Briyah thus means creating something from nothing. In atzilut, the fourth level of consciousness, nes means flag. At this level, one recognizes that life is a marathon, not a sprint. Tests are short term. At the level of flag, one recognizes the pattern of repetition in one s problems. By flagging a behavior, a person is able to see when they are repeating that behavior. The flag is a victory sign of insight. Rabbi Twerski taught Tzaddikim mark dead ends in the maze between themselves and Hashem. Humans all share a repetition compulsion that can persist in families up to ten generations. The sins of the fathers are visited on the sons for 10 generations. These compulsions are passed down from generation to generation until someone recognizes the pattern and resolves the problem. Joseph recognizes the devastating results of generations of favoritism in Avraham s family. He resolves with his wife, Osnat, to end the behavior. His children, Ephraim and Menashe, are the first brothers in the Torah who don t want to kill each other. Building on Joseph s awareness, Moshe and Aharon avoided sibling rivalry and always gave each other the benefit of the doubt. This empowered them to solve many problems and literally change the world.
This step requires faith, courage and above all, a high level of consciousness to discern the root of one s deficit, that is, the mistake that one repeats most often. This level is the goal of a teshuva journey. It is the most effective approach to change oneself and to change the world. Only by avoiding the repetition compulsion which traps a person in the past, can one be present and intimate with Hashem. This forms the core of the teshuvah journey. 1 R. Yitzchak Ginsberg 2 Bereshit 5:29 3 Bereshit 6:6 4 Bereshit 6:9 5 Exodus 14:15 6 Viktor E. Frankl, Man s Search for Meaning, p 105-113. We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters, is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph. To turn one s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms to choose one s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one s own way.