Daf Yomi, Marriage Counseling, Psychotherapy, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Torah and Psychology
Our Gemara on Amud Beis reports that the thanksgiving sacrifice is a subset of the genus of shelamim sacrifice. Let us take a closer look at the qualities of these sacrifices.
Maharal (Derashas Shabbos Hagadol 22) states that a shelamim sacrifice represents shalom, or peace, and a wish to connect and be at peace with Hashem. The thanksgiving sacrifice, as a subset, comes after surviving a life-threatening situation. It is notable that this type of sacrifice involves three sets of loaves that are unleavened bread, along with the unusual presence of a set of loaves that are made out of chametz.
Maharal goes on to explain that chametz is ordinarily taboo in the sacrificial process because it represents arrogance and sin. Just as the dough ferments, bubbles, and rises, so too poor character traits bubble up from within. Yet the thanksgiving sacrifice, which is the highest form of shelamim—because it represents making peace with God after surviving a life-threatening situation—must make peace with and involve all aspects of life and human nature. In reality, even the so-called Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, comes from God too and also has a good element within it. As Bereishis Rabbah (9:7) remarks on the verse, “And Elokim saw everything that He made, and behold, it was very good.” The Midrash notes that the word “everything” and the word “very” emphasize something additional. “Everything” includes the evil inclination, and that too can be “very good” when it is sublimated and directed toward the positive. This is what the thanksgiving shelamim, together with the chametz loaves, represent: an integration of all aspects of human drives and experience. When they are fully integrated, connection to God is possible.
The Maharal does not directly explain why this process is emphasized specifically in a thanksgiving sacrifice. After all, the integration of drives and inclinations is a general developmental goal and could be emphasized in any sacrifice or mitzvah. I believe it has to do with the nature of correction that the thanksgiving sacrifice represents. A person who went through a harrowing experience, almost lost his life, but in the end was saved is somebody who is probably good, but not good enough. Meaning to say, the person ultimately did not suffer punishment and therefore was deserving of being saved, yet he is receiving a memo from God that he is on thin ice. This person is good, but he is not fully achieving his potential. Why is that? Likely because there is not a proper integration of all his character traits. There is some form of cutoff or dissociation that prevents him from utilizing his desires and drives productively and constructively. Either he indulges them too much, or suppresses them and loses vital life energy and perspective and becomes overtaken by them.
This is why the thanksgiving sacrifice is closest to the person’s attention at the very moment he is attempting to reconnect to God. He cannot disavow his inclinations; rather, he must integrate them in a wholesome way and thereby reconnect to God—or perhaps connect to God for the first time in a more authentic manner.
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, LMFT, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com