The great
sorcerer Bilam was an emotional wreck.
Hired by King Balak to curse the Israelites in the Wilderness, his
mission had failed. Every time he tried
to utter a curse, a blessing emerged from his mouth instead. He trudged home downtrodden, unable to come
to terms with the shame of being the world’s greatest sorcerer, and yet unable
to carry out the simple task of cursing the nation of Israel.
His donkey
tried everything to cheer him up.
‘Why the
long face?’ he inquired, despite knowing the answer to his question.
‘Don’t you
get it?’ Bilam snapped at his donkey. ‘Sorcerers
are like onions.’
‘Like
onions?’ exclaimed the donkey incredulously. ‘In what way? Do they stink, so nobody will come anywhere
near them? Or maybe they make people
cry!’
‘No,’
replied Bilam. ‘Just like onions, they
have layers.’
אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה
אָמַר רַב: צָלָף שֶׁל עׇרְלָה בְּחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ זוֹרֵק אֶת הָאֲבִיּוֹנוֹת
וְאוֹכֵל אֶת הַקַּפְרֵיסִין.
וְתִיפּוֹק לֵיהּ
דְּנַעֲשָׂה שׁוֹמֵר לַפְּרִי, וְרַחֲמָנָא אָמַר: ״וַעֲרַלְתֶּם
עׇרְלָתוֹ אֶת פִּרְיוֹ״,
אֶת הַטָּפֵל לְפִרְיוֹ, וּמַאי נִיהוּ — שׁוֹמֵר לַפְּרִי.
וּתְנַן גַּבֵּי
עׇרְלָה: קְלִיפֵּי רִמּוֹן וְהַנֵּץ שֶׁלּוֹ, קְלִיפֵּי אֱגוֹזִים
וְהַגַּרְעִינִין חַיָּיבִין בְּעׇרְלָה.
The Torah
commands (Lev.19:23), “When you will come to the land and plant any food tree,
you shall treat its fruit as orlah (forbidden), for three years.”
Rav
Yehuda quoted Rav: Concerning a caper bush of an orlah tree outside of Israel,
one must discard the berries, but he may eat the husks.
The
Gemara asks: Are the husks not forbidden as protectors of the fruit? The Torah states, “you shall treat its fruit
as forbidden.” The word ‘its’ comes to include that which is ancillary to the
fruit. What is that? The protector of the fruit.
It was
taught: Pomegranate peels (kelipa) and husks, walnut shells
(kelipa) and fruit pits are subject to the laws of orlah.
Shells and peels can be a bit of a hassle. Wouldn’t it be easier if we could just eat an
orange without bothering with peeling? The
Gemara points out that the peel serves a vital purpose. It protects the fruit against bacteria,
worms, drying out, and the elements generally.
According to Kabbalah, the forces of evil are coined
kelipos, meaning shells or peels. What
could be so terrible about kelipos? The
kelipos are the ‘protectors of the fruit’!
Nevertheless, the Kabbalists sensed the tension between kelipos, on the
one hand, as protectors, but on the other hand, as shells and peels that tend
to be a hassle getting in the way of your supper.
The apparent contradiction, of course, may be reconciled
with the understanding that the same way physical kelipos (peels) serve to
protect the good fruit, spiritual kelipos also serve to protect the good
spiritual energy. This world contains
many kelipos of darkness and challenge.
In order to arrive at the light, one often needs to peel away the bad
elements. In essence, they’re not really
bad. Their primary purpose is to protect
the good. But in the process, you can’t
escape the fact that they’re also concealing the good deep inside, and that’s
why they’re associated with darkness.
In life, sometimes all we see are the kelipos, the
challenges and problems. Once you
understand, however, that the difficult kelipos are only concealing the good in
order to protect it, you realize that you’ve been tasked with the challenge of
peeling away the shell and being the agent that brings the light to the
surface.
It’s not an easy task to peel back those layers. It takes a lot of work. Bilam started the peeling process by
acknowledging G-d’s providence to King Balak.
However, ‘sorcerers have layers’ and he was only willing to peel so
deep. No sooner had he started peeling
than he was ready to attack the Israelites with another terrible plot. He gathered the Midianite princesses to lure
the Israelite men into sin. Instead of
continuing to peel back the darkness until the light shone through, he stopped
short, deciding that the challenges of discovering the good light within
himself was just too much effort.
The layers of the onion stink. And they make people cry. The work of peeling is arduous. It takes
introspection. It takes faith in Heaven that despite all your challenges, you
believe that G-d is in control and He has a plan. And that the dark shell He has created is
only there to protect the light inside and make you a better person as you work
at peeling away. It takes a lifetime of
dedication, and it’s not easy to stay strong and continue to peel through all
the seemingly never-ending layers.
Hashem has placed kelipos in your life in order to protect
and preserve the light found deep inside your soul. The hard shell on the outside ensures the
light can’t seep out. May you
successfully peel away each layer of life’s challenges and moments of darkness to
find the light and goodness in every situation and every person, especially
yourself!
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