Mazal Tov?

It is known in Judaism that Jews are above any "predictionary techniques", which includes looking at the stars. Its in fact a curse for a Jew to use these techniques and a major sin. Why its a curse is extremely interesting, but a thread for another time.

At any rate, a "Mazal" is a sign state or faith of what is to come. Like a bad mazal may be a black cat for non-jews (this type of thing (black cats arent a mazal though)). Usually a mazal is associated with planets and their alignments, like how zodiacs get their weekly fortune in news-papers.


So if we are above any mazal, then why do we say "mazal tov" to other jews? If we are above a mazal, then how can you say the person has a good mazal?

How to do mitzvot

The Michtav Eliyahu discusses two types of ways that people perform mitzvot.

Paraphrasing:

A). You can do a mitzvah with deep kavannah and concentration, struggling at each step with difficulty facing issue at each turn.

B). You can do a mitzvah like "wearing clothing" as though it is meaningless and you just "do it".

Now, I was luckily reading Massechet Shabbos 77b. Where R' Zeira asks Rav Yehudah why is an outer garment called a "levusha", Rav Yehuda says, because one wearing it has no emberassment (lo vusha).

It would seem from this that the michtav eliyahu in option "b" doesnt just mean someone does it as a pattern, but rather out of emberassment.

This makes alot of sense, as they say tzaddikim, although the simpler lower levels seem as patterns to them, they struggle with more specific nuances or harder levels of the mitzvah that many of us dont consider. So there is always a stuggle.

Or someone simply does it because not doing it would emberass themselves.


I think if we want to concentrate on growth we must make sure to carefully analyze why we do each mitzvah.

Both option a) and b) have positives and negatives the michtav m'eliyahu explains:

Option "a" comes with kavanna (a struggle always brings immense thought if its won).

Option "b" type mitzvot are never lost though. If one is emberassed from not doing it, they wont come to not do it -- the emberassment is too much. They will never lose a mitzvah in that arena therefore.

So they both have "ups" and "downs". Now I obviously left out alot from the michtav me'eliyahu, but thoughts?

Would you add to the types of mitzvot? why? Or um...which do you think is "better"?

Moshe's Insight

Chazal say that Moshe would see things through a clear lense, whereas every other prophet would see through a cloudy lense. The idea of course is that a clear lense transmits the message much better then a cloudy lense.

I want to interrupt the point to bring up a great Maharal. Moshe Rabbeinu is arguing with G-d, and at one point Hashem says that he will send Aaron to speak for him. The obvious issue is that a prophet must (there is Halacha) say his own prophecy, no other can say it for him. Now, Hashem responds that Moshe is the Malach, that Maharal says means that Moshe is on such a high level that he isnt receiving the prophecy, he IS the prophecy. What this means is quite deep, but I only wanted to share the idea of it.

Now, Rav Dressler on the first paragraph makes an amazing insight. What is the difference between a clear lense and a cloudy lense? When you look through a clear lense you see the picture, great. When you look through a cloudy lense you see some of your own reflection, which you think is part of the picture your looking at!

What a beautiful idea. Moshe in his grande humility did not see himself in the picture. He surely knew what he was. But he was honest with what he was, he didnt perceive more or less, but rather the truth of the situation.

These things primarily heard from Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz.