Are you a spiritual person? Do you have ruach?
The Children of Israel did
not. When Moshe relays God’s promise of
redemption to them, they don’t listen. (Shemot 6:9)
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר משֶׁ֛ה כֵּ֖ן אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְלֹ֤א שָֽׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־משֶׁ֔ה מִקֹּ֣צֶר ר֔וּחַ וּמֵֽעֲבֹדָ֖ה קָשָֽׁה:
Moses spoke to the children of Israel, but they did
not hearken to Moses because of their shortness of ruach and because of their
hard labor.
What is kotzer ruach?
Rashi explains that they were
working so hard that they were out of breath and couldn’t
concentrate. I can relate to this type
of breathlessness. This is how I sometimes
feel after a long run as I
prepare for the NYC Half Marathon in March as part of Team Sharsheret.
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin
(the Netziv) says that they were just too busy working to actually stop
and listen. When we are overworked, we
don’t have the capacity to be receptive to even good news.
Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno, the great 15th
century Italian commentator, explains that ruach literally means spirit.
Kotzer ruach should be understood that Bnei Yisrael lost faith
in the promise of redemption. Moshe had
promised salvation and failed. They were
not willing to give him a second chance and had no interest in what he had to
say.
The Zohar takes this approach
further. Bnei Yisrael lacked a
spiritual connection to God. The ruach
that the people lacked is the “ruach Elokim” (the spirit of God) that
was “hovering above the waters” in the beginning of the creation of the
world. (Bereishit 1:2) According to this approach, Bnei Yisrael had
become so entrenched in Egypt that they became disconnected and unexcited about
anything spiritual. “Kotzer ruach”
syndrome interfered with their obvious desire for freedom and happiness, and
they could not grasp the possibility of a better reality.
What about us? Do we, at times, fall prey to “Kotzer ruach”
syndrome? Do we get excited by
spiritual things?
I try to notice what gets people
excited. Some people come alive when
they talk about business or politics; some people are very animated when talking
about family; some people wake up when they talk about sports.
Some people wake up when they
talk about Torah or Judaism. Some people
come alive when davening or when singing Jewish music.
What prompts your ruach,
your spirit, to soar?
It is understandable that there
are times when we don’t feel very inspired.
There are many distractions and disappointments which can interfere with
a more elevated sense of spirit and soul.
Maybe we don’t always feel in the mood to be spiritual. We cannot let these moments allow us to
let kotzer ruach define us.
We need to be open to the power
of the spiritual experience. There are
so many possibilities.
A short, inspirational Torah
thought.
A small act of kindness in the
middle of a busy day. Concern for others reminds us that life is
much bigger than our own issues.
A rousing niggun or song. A colleague of
mind was asked what keeps him inspired.
He said listening to Jewish music.
He explained that, just like movies have soundtracks that amplify the
emotions, music can have the same impact on Jewish learning or practice. Through listening to music, we can experience
the soul of Judaism.
Let’s tackle kotzer ruach. Let us consciously find ways to be more open
to our souls and spirituality. Let’s
sing more!
Showing more ruach will be
a truly liberating and redemptive experience.
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