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Birchat Hatorah- Laasok B'divrei Torah

 

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוק בְּדִבְרֵי תורָה

 

The flaming swords in Gan Eden did not allow Adam HaRishon to access the Etz Hachaim (Gen 3:24) because he was mevatel the Etz HaChaim (The Tree of Life). The Tree of Knowledge was a doubletree, containing within it the Tree of Life. Adam only paid attention to its exterior and because he was unable to focus on the internal aspect (The Etz HaChaim) of the doubletree, he lost access to it completely. Similarly, any time a person keeps a mitzvah or studies Torah and is stuck on their exterior, he is mevatel the Etz HaChaim of that Torah or of that mitzvah; he/she is disconnecting that Torah idea/mitzvah from its spirit/life force. And he/she experiences the feeling of the flaming swords cutting off the eternal connection afforded to them by the Torah/mitzvah, God forbid. לַעֲסוק בְּדִבְרֵי תורָה empowers us to reach into our learning, into our mitzvot so that we are awarded the opportunity to access their spirit so that it nurtures our own. May we take the seeds of our learning and plant them into our mitzvot and into our lives so that we are constantly holding onto the Etz HaChaim unscathed and untouched by the flaming swords.

By: Mordakhai Kholdarov


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